Dame Time in Milwaukee (and where is Jrue Holiday headed??)

Breaking down the impact for each of the three teams involved in the Dame deal - as well as the Knicks and Heat…

Wow. 

It was a mundane Wednesday afternoon in the offseason when - out of nowhere - a Woj Bomb detonated, shaking the league's foundation to its core. The drawn-out Damian Lillard saga had finally ended, just in a way none of us expected, with the Trail Blazers trading Dame to Milwaukee as part of a three-team blockbuster including the Phoenix Suns.

Here are the particulars: 
Milwaukee receives:
Damian Lillard 

Portland receives:
Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton, Toumani Camara, Milwaukee's 2029 unprotected first-round draft pick, and unprotected Milwaukee swap rights in 2028 and 2030.

Phoenix receives:
Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson.

Let's break down the impact for each team involved in the deal - as well as the Knicks and Heat… 

🏀 Bucks:
We now know that the Milwaukee front office heard Giannis loud and clear after Antetokounmpo publicly stated that the Bucks would need to prove they were "all in" on winning a title to keep him in Wisconsin. Well, by trading for a seven-time All-Star who averaged 32.2 points and 7.3 assists per game last season, they've done just that. 

There is certainly some potential downside with this deal. Lillard will make an average of $53.5 million per season over the next four years, including $63.2 million in 2026-27 (his age-36 season). And the Bucks will definitely miss Holiday's defense and suffer a dramatic downgrade at their point-of-attack D. 

But the reality is they had to pull the trigger on this trade. Keeping Giannis in Milwaukee is all that matters. And this trade increases the odds that the Bucks win a title in 2024 and then ink Antetokounmpo to a max extension before he sniffs free agency. Jrue is an all-world defender, but he struggled mightily on the offensive end in Milwaukee's loss to the Heat in the first round, averaging just 17.8 PPG on 17.0 FG attempts (he shot 40% from the floor and 28% from downtown). 

Conversely, Dame is one of the best clutch performers in league history. In 2021-22, Lillard led the NBA in clutch scoring, pouring 162 points while shooting 51.1% from the field, 39.1% from deep and 94.7% from the free-throw line in clutch situations. Lillard has made 35 career go-ahead buckets in the final minute of a game, including the playoffs. That's the most in the NBA since the start of the 2021-22 season. The last time Lillard played in the postseason (vs. Denver in 2021), he averaged 34.3 points (while posting a 66% True Shooting percentage), 10.2 assists and 4.3 rebounds. He knocked down 35 three-pointers in the six-game series, the most three-pointers in any playoff series in NBA history. 

The trade also frees up a roster spot for Milwaukee, which they could use to bring in a backup PG, such as Cam Payne.

Immediately after Wednesday's trade was reported, SportsBetting.ag updated its 2023-24 title odds, and the Bucks went from having the third-best chances to the favorites (Milwaukee went from +700 to +370).