Damian Lillard trade grades: Bucks land Giannis a new co-star, but no team earns an ‘A’ in blockbuster deal

Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo are about to be teammates. Lillard, who became 33 in July and is coming off the most efficient season of his 11-year occupation, will probably be traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in a three-team blockbuster on Wednesday.

In go back for his or her franchise participant, the Portland Trail Blazers gets heart Deandre Ayton and ahead Toumani Camara from the Phoenix Suns, plus an unprotected 2029 first-round decide and two unprotected decide swaps (2028, 2030) from the Bucks. They may also obtain superstar guard Jrue Holiday from Milwaukee, but he might be temporarily rerouted to a contender, per ESPN.

In addition to sending Lillard to Milwaukee, Portland will ship heart Jusuf Nurkic, ahead Nassir Little and guard Keon Johnson to Phoenix. The Suns may also gain sharpshooter Grayson Allen from the Bucks. 

This is the type of trade whose ripple results will probably be felt all over the league. What strikes will the Miami Heat, who have been Lillard’s most well-liked vacation spot and feature two open roster spots, make now? Do the Toronto Raptors, who have been related to Lillard in fresh days, have one thing else up their sleeves? How would possibly this have an effect on trade talks involving disgruntled Philadelphia 76ers superstar James Harden? 

For now, although, we will focal point at the ramifications for the 3 groups which can be without delay concerned in this deal. Let’s grade the trade.

Bucks grade: B+

First, the macro: Milwaukee’s franchise participant can hit loose company in 2025 and has time and again stated that he’s going to go away if he does not really feel the group is as dedicated as he’s to profitable every other championship. The Bucks flamed out in the primary around in opposition to Miami a few months in the past, and, whilst they have been ready to retain Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez this summer time, they did not do a lot to handle their longstanding problems with halfcourt offense. Had they no longer taken a large swing like this, they might have successfully been counting at the 33-year-old Holiday, 32-year-old Middleton and 35-year-old Lopez to seek out some roughly new system beneath new trainer Adrian Griffin. Lillard is in that very same age bracket, but Milwaukee hasn’t ever had a playmaker like him. Ideally, this trade will be certain that Antetokounmpo indicators every other contract with the team that drafted him 10 years in the past and provides all the franchise a sense that it’s cooking up one thing particular quite than seeking to reheat one thing stale.

Now, the micro: The Bucks, well being allowing, must have a higher halfcourt offense than they ever did in the Mike Budenholzer generation. They must no longer get stagnant in opposition to elite playoff defenses, they must no longer lose their poise in crunch time and so they must no longer undergo that a lot if Middleton regresses a bit as a writer. As a results of accidents and roster development, Antetokounmpo set new occupation highs in utilization (37.3%), and box function makes an attempt (20.3 in keeping with sport, 29.2 in keeping with 100 possessions) closing season, and you’ll be able to be expecting the ones numbers to drop considerably. Lillard’s presence approach Antetokounmpo (and Middleton, for that subject) could have a lighter load and take more uncomplicated pictures.

Milwaukee’s problem is to ensure that the offensive spice up isn’t totally offset at the different finish. Holiday is without doubt one of the league’s premier defenders: a terror on the level of assault, a top-tier display screen navigator and as switchable as any 6-foot-5 participant has ever been. Lillard himself has known as him the most efficient defender in the league. The Bucks shouldn’t have any individual at the roster who can approximate what Holiday did for them defensively for the previous 3 seasons, and they’d have some regret about letting Jevon Carter, every other imply point-of-attack man, escape in loose company. After placing extra defensive accountability on Lopez’s shoulders closing season via dialing down its assist protection, Milwaukee is now checking out the rim protector’s limits — we all know he and Antetokounmpo can duvet up errors at the perimeter, but, courting again to the times of Eric Bledsoe and Malcolm Brogdon, the primary defensive line has at all times been a large, sturdy, bodily guard.

Fortunately for the Bucks, these days isn’t the trade time limit. It is imaginable that wing Marjon Beauchamp, who had some promising moments as a rookie, in particular at the defensive finish, temporarily develops into the kind of participant that may both A) produce on each ends in the playoffs or B) be traded for somebody who can. If that doesn’t occur, although, the team protection won’t have a lot margin for error, and, given the entire selections which can be out the window, neither will the entrance workplace. 

Blazers grade: B

Portland and Phoenix swapped bigs who’ve been at the trade block without end, and it is sensible that the Blazers were given the 25-year-old one. And whilst getting just one first-round decide outright in change for a Hall of Famer would possibly sound dangerous, that is not the best way to have a look at it. In June 2028, when the primary Bucks decide may just pass to Portland, Lillard will probably be weeks clear of his thirty eighth birthday and Antetokounmpo will probably be a few months older than Lillard is now. The Blazers will indisputably get Milwaukee’s decide a 12 months after that, and they are going to have the opportunity to change selections once more every other 12 months later. They are making a bet that, via then, the Bucks’ name window could have closed. Given the roster-building restrictions that Milwaukee’s entrance workplace will face in the following few years with Lillard’s monumental wage at the books, this turns out like a good wager.

Holiday’s trade worth is baked into this deal, so any evaluation of the way Portland fared will probably be extra correct as soon as he is on every other team. Some elements at play: Holiday will probably be eligible to signal an extension (value as much as $223 million over 4 years) six months after he’s traded once more, and he has previously said that he plans to retire on the finish of this contract, which contains a $37.4 million participant choice for 2024-25. How does he really feel about that now? Is there someplace particular he’d love to spend the remainder of his occupation? All of this may occasionally have an effect on what sort of provides the Blazers are ready to seek out, but Holiday is definitely the type of participant a contender would phase with younger avid gamers and selections to procure. It labored out smartly when the Bucks did it.

Ultimately, the larger variable here’s how Ayton develops. He starred in his function in the Suns’ 2021 Finals run, but didn’t keep on that trajectory. Ideally, Portland would be the very best position for him — there may be room for him to enlarge his offensive sport, and, if he can persistently deliver the defensive scheme versatility that he had all the way through his most efficient stints in Phoenix, then the previous No. 1 total decide can get his occupation again on target. In a worst-case state of affairs, Ayton approaches this as not anything greater than an alternative to turn what he can do with the ball in his arms … but even then, a minimum of the Blazers have been in spite of everything ready to shed Nurkic’s contract. Worth a shot!

Suns grade: B+

Remember all the ones tales about how a lot Frank Vogel loves Ayton? The NBA is humorous.

This one is beautiful easy: Ayton would possibly finally end up being (approach) higher than any individual Phoenix were given in this deal, but it almost certainly wasn’t going to occur in Phoenix. The Suns are perhaps probably the most all-in team in historical past, and if the beginning heart’s courting with the team was once past restore, then they wanted a new beginning heart. 

Phoenix’s intensity, which was once a transparent weak spot in the fast aftermath of the Kevin Durant trade, is now a huge power. Take the middle change out of it, and Allen, Little and Johnson upload to the already lengthy record of function avid gamers the entrance workplace controlled so as to add this offseason regardless of simplest having minimal contracts to provide loose brokers. (Allen and Little can be added to the record of doable 5th starters.) In truth, the Suns now have actually too many guys — 17 avid gamers are signed to straightforward contracts, and that quantity will have to be diminished to fifteen earlier than opening evening. This is doubtlessly dangerous news for Ish Wainwright, whose contract isn’t assured.

Offensively, Nurkic must thrive in Phoenix. Vogel can use him as a hub, and his screening will assist the Suns’ many shooters get open appears. As a passer, he is a transparent improve over Ayton, which can make it tougher for groups to entice Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. The chance right here, although, is this trade would possibly have decreased the Suns’ defensive ceiling. Due to age and damage historical past, Nurkic turns out much less most likely than Ayton to go back to shape as a pick-and-roll defender. It will assist to have Durant roaming at the vulnerable facet, but if Nurkic will get performed off the ground in the convention finals, who’s changing him? Drew Eubanks? Chimezie Metu? Smallball? All imperfect solutions.

Despite this chance, it is simple to know Phoenix’s rationale, in particular while you issue in what it has carried out to its cap sheet. Allen (who will banquet on open 3s) is owed $8.5 million over every of the following two seasons, Little (a thieve if he makes his 3s) is owed a general of $28.5 million over the following 4 and Johnson continues to be on his rookie deal. The Suns have necessarily damaged up Ayton’s max contract into a number of smaller, tradable ones, giving the training body of workers and entrance workplace extra items to play with as they are attempting to form this new workforce into a championship favourite.