The Portland Trail Blazers have agreed to trade Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks, according to reports on Wednesday.
According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Blazers will receive Jrue Holiday, DeAndre Ayton, Toumani Camara and multiple picks in a three-team deal that includes the Suns.
Lillard goes Milwaukee as part of a 3-team deal with Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton, Toumani Camara, a 2029 unprotected MIL 1st, and unprotected MIL swap rights in 2028 and 2030 to Blazers. Phoenix lands Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson. https://t.co/Ge0H91AiIA
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 27, 2023
Lillard averaged 25.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game over 11 seasons in Portland. During the 2022-23 season, he averaged 32.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 7.3 assists in 58 games played for the Blazers. Lillard is also the Blazers' all-time leading scorer.
With all of the rumors around a potential Lillard trade for the past few months, Trail Blazers win totals were off the board at FanDuel before the trade on Wednesday. The Bucks' win total was 53.5 before the Lillard trade.
The Bucks were +600 to win the NBA championship before the Lillard trade — the third-shortest odds, behind the Celtics (+470) and Nuggets (+480) and just ahead of the Suns (+650).
The Bucks are now the prohibitive favorites to win it all now at FanDuel at +360. The defending champion Nuggets (+430), Celtics (+480) and Suns (+600) now trail behind.
And Giannis Antetokounmpo is now tied as the NBA MVP favorite, too. While he had been +500 at FanDuel, he's now tied with Nikola Jokic at the top of the odds board.
Damian Lillard Trade Timeline
This past June, when asked what cities he'd like to play in if he had the choice, Lillard responded, "Miami is the obvious one," citing his relationship with Heat big man Bam Adebayo. That followed the Blazers claiming the No. 3 overall pick in May's NBA Draft lottery. Instead of trading that pick for a player who could help Lillard and Portland contend, the Blazers selected Scoot Henderson.
In late August, Lillard confirmed he had requested a trade, which was first reported on July 1, with the Heat being his preferred destination. Over the next few weeks, Lillard's agent reportedly told teams other than Miami not to inquire about trading for the point guard, as he would be unhappy playing for any other team. The Blazers, however, had reportedly been looking for the best deal in return for the star point guard, not necessarily accepting what the Heat had to offer.
Last week, there were also reports the Chicago Bulls were interested in acquiring Lillard through a multi-team trade. The trade chatter then heated up even further over the weekend, with multiple teams reportedly talking to the Blazers about acquiring Lillard, with the Toronto Raptors reportedly becoming one of the most involved teams in Lillard trade talks.
This is a developing story.
