MILWAUKEE — One of the Bulls’ Central Division rivals is getting a major boost ahead of the start of the 2023-2024 season.
Per multiple reports, the first from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Blazers guard Damian Lillard will be joining the Bucks in a three-team trade that also includes the Suns. This comes after he requested a trade from Portland this past summer, initially hoping to be traded to the Miami Heat.
Instead, he’s joining two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and Milwaukee as they look to get their second NBA championship in four years. Right now, the Bucks are slated to open their preseason against the Bulls on Sunday, October 8 at Fiserv Forum.
Lillard would face Billy Donovan’s team in the regular season for the first time on Monday, November 13 in Milwaukee. The guard’s first appearance in Chicago with the Bucks is Thursday, November 30.
The teams have yet to confirm the move.
Per the report, here are the full terms of the deal
Bucks
- Guard Damian Lillard
Blazers
- Guard Jrue Holiday
- Center Deandre Ayton
- Forward Toumani Camara
- Bucks 2029 first round pick
- Draft swaps with the Bucks in 2028, 2030
Suns
- Center Jusuf Nurkic
- Forward Nassar Little
- Forward Keon Johnson
- Guard Grayson Allen
One of the best guards in the NBA, Lillard has played all 11 seasons with the Trail Blazers, earning an All-NBA first team selection in 2017-2018 while also making the second team four times. The guard has averaged 25.2 points and 6.7 assists in 769 regular season games in the NBA while also averaging 25.7 in 61 career playoff games.
In the 2022-2023 season, Lillard had a career-high 32.2 points per game average in 58 games in Portland with 7.3 assists per contest.
