According to CBS Sports, Damian Lillard has just been traded from the Portland Trail Blazers to the Milwaukee Bucks, making them first in the odds of winning the title. This was a three-team trade, including the Blazers, Phoenix Suns, and Bucks. The Bucks received point guard Damian Lillard, a significant asset to them going into next season. The Suns received center Jusif Nurkic, guard Greysen Allen, forward Nassir Little, and guard Keon Johnson. All these players will stop the accusations of the Suns not having depth after their blockbuster trade for Bradley Beal. Lastly, the Trail Blazers received guard Jrue Holiday, center Deandre Ayton, forward Toumani Camara, 2029 MIL 1st-rd pick, 2028 and 2030 1st-rd swap rights with Milwaukee.
Many people said that the Blazers were severely underpaid for Dame the day after the Lillard trade was confirmed. However, that day, the Blazers traded Jrue Holiday to the Celtics, and they received forward Robert Williams, Guard Malcolm Brogdon, and some first-round picks. Both of these players will be crucial to the Blazers, as Williams will be able to bring down many rebounds, which was desperately needed for the team. They also received Brogdon, a good spot-up shooter and last year’s 6th Man of the Year winner.
Overall, this trade is very well-rounded for all of the teams involved. The Blazers finally are able to get rid of all the Lillard trade drama, and can now put all of their focus on their rookie point guard, Scoot Henderson. Scoot is an up-and-coming guard coming out of this year’s draft. Scoot did very well in the summer league, showing off his incredible athleticism and scoring ability while also being able to create shots for his teammates.
The Celtics also did pretty well in this trade, acquiring a very underrated point guard in Holiday. Jrue is unquestionably the best defending guard in the league and is also a very underrated scorer and passer, as he averaged almost 20 points and 7.4 assists a game. The Celtics received Jrue Holiday and traded for Kristaps Porzingis, an all-star caliber stretch big who shot around 40% from three last year, from Washington in the offseason. All these additions make the Celtics one of the scariest teams in the entire league.
The Bucks, are also a very scary team this year. Acquiring Lillard, obviously, is an amazing addition to the team, but they lost many assets to their team that brought them to the finals in 2021. However, bringing Dame to the team will help them out a ton, and I would not be surprised to see them making a very deep run into the playoffs or even winning it all.
To sum it all up, all of the teams involved in this trade benefited in some way, and some were better than others. This whole off-season has been a lot of chaos, but eventually, things will start to pan out and return to normal as soon as the season begins
