Practically two months faraway from the Milwaukee Bucks’ surprising choice to waive Damian Lillard, and it is already backfired. The Bucks stretched and waived Lillard, which was stunning contemplating that they should pay him a minimum of $20 million over the subsequent 5 seasons.
Paying him to go away freed up the cap house to signal Myles Turner. That would assist them to exchange Brook Lopez however harm them in the long term.Being handcuffed with having to pay Lillard’s wage plus Turner means they’ll basically be paying almost $50 million yearly for Turner.
That is a bonkers choice contemplating that they’d basically be paying the equal of a max contract to a merely good beginning middle. Not solely that, however the Portland Path Blazers are the massive beneficiary.
The Portland Path Blazers made out like bandits due to the Bucks
The Blazers traded Lillard to the Bucks again in the summertime of 2023 in trade for Jrue Vacation and three decide swaps. Then, they traded Anthony Simons to the Boston Celtics to reacquire Vacation, adopted by re-signing Lillard.
They now have two former All-Stars on their staff for the price of a second-round decide and cap house. The Blazers are clearly hoping to win now and hope that Vacation can assist them within the quick future and Lillard can assist them within the close to future.
Lillard remains to be recovering from a torn Achilles however was introduced again to rehab his harm whereas additionally offering a veteran presence. He is additionally again in Portland to mentor former third total decide Scoot Henderson with the hope that he can assist flip him right into a star.
The Milwaukee Bucks’ waiving Damian Lillard will come again to chew them
Vacation was additionally required to do the identical in addition to assist them on the court docket. In the meantime, the Bucks can have neither Lillard nor Vacation and nonetheless have strain to win now with Giannis Antetokounmpo. If they do not, they might danger having him demand a commerce forward of the deadline.
That could be a large quantity of strain to position on subsequent season for the Bucks. They’re going to be with out the belongings they gave up for these gamers plus the price of waiving Lillard and signing Turner whereas the Blazers are sitting fairly at their expense.
Solely time will inform how poorly the Lillard debacle will harm the Bucks, however it’s already apparent the Blazers have already gotten one of the best of the Bucks’ desperation strikes.
All in all, the Bucks made an enormous gamble by waiving Lillard, whereas the Blazers are the clear beneficiaries.
