As everyone already knows, Damian Lillard this week agreed to re-sign with what was, for the first 11 years of his professional career, the only NBA franchise he ever knew – the Portland Trail Blazers. As everyone already knows, Lillard was shockingly cut by the Milwaukee Bucks earlier this summer in an extreme cost-cutting move. And as everyone already knows, the Bucks’ trade with Portland to acquire Lillard in the first place was really, really unsuccessful.
But everyone should also know how bad the trade was. With Lillard’s decision to return to Portland, it has only gotten worse.
Blazers Effectively Gave Up One Player
Completed in September 2023, the trade itself was a three-team deal, with the Phoenix Suns also involved.
In exchange for Lillard, the Bucks gave up Jrue Holiday a 2029 first-round pick and the unprotected right to swap either or both of their 2028 and 2030 first-round picks to Portland, along with also sending Grayson Allen to Phoenix. From Portland’s point of view, they sent Lillard to the Bucks, along with Jusuf Nurkic, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson to the Bucks, in exchange for Holiday, the pick and the swaps from Milwaukee, along with Toumani Camara and Deandre Ayton from the Suns.
Johnson was waived by the Suns within a month of the trade, and although he remains in the NBA with the Brooklyn Nets – averaging 10.6 points per game last season as a starting wing – his career 37.9% field goal percentage reflects that output being more a product of opportunity on a tanking team rather than a player with a cemented spot in the NBA. Little, meanwhile, proved only to be a problem to the Suns, albeit through no fault of his own – the Suns’ decision to cut his contract last season caused them great difficulties in resolving the Bradley Beal situation this month. (Little now plays in Japan.)
Effectively, then, the Blazers had sent out only Lillard and Nurkic. Nurkic remains the decent player that he has always been and is now with the Utah Jazz after a baffling trade they made earlier this summer with the Charlotte Hornets. But with Lillard now back with the team, Nurk stands effectively alone as the only outgoing piece of the trade.
And for that, the Blazers got a haul.
Bucks Got Back Effectively No-One
Holiday was a Blazer for merely days. The former Bucks guard was rerouted to the Boston Celtics in a deal that saw the Blazers get back Malcolm Brogdon, Robert Williams, the Golden State Warriors’ 2024 first-round pick and the Celtics’ 2029 first-rounder. Nine months later, Brogdon, that Warriors pick (later used on All-Rookie Second Team member Bub Carrington), the 2029 pick and two additional seconds were sent to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Deni Avdija, keeping the trade tree in the air.
To be fair, Ayton did not work out. No measurable improvement on the court, flanked by rumors of poor work ethic, saw him bought out of his sizeable contract earlier this summer, whereafter he has signed with the L.A. Lakers hopeful of a career rejuvenation. It is not for nothing that a decent percentage of the money saved on the Lillard discount will go towards paying Ayton to play for someone else.
That said, Ayton’s sunk cost is more than offset by the quality and assets acquired elsewhere. Camara in particular has become an established future piece for the team, while Avdija’s career-best 2024-25 campaign pairs with Camara to create a forward duo for the immediate future. The four pieces of draft capital are all still to come, and with the Bucks in a turgid spot even after their summer spring clean, they could prove lucrative.
Trading “The Package” of first-rounders and swaps, while increasingly common, rarely works out. Yet this is one of the worst instances of it to date. For Jusuf Nurkic, two future second-round picks and Johnson (who they could have re-signed anyway were he a needle-mover), the Blazers received Avdija, Camara, Williams, two firsts, two swap rights, and a 75% discount on the face of the franchise.
The Bucks, meanwhile, have nothing.
Final Tally of The Damian Lillard Trade is a Travesty for the Bucks