33-year-old American point guard Damian Lillard He will be traded from the Portland Trail Blazers to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Many expected Lillard to go to the Miami Heat, which was what the basketball player wanted most, but in the end, the star guard would move to Wisconsin, where he would create one of the league’s strongest duos with local star Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Three teams participated in the change: Portland, Milwaukee and Phoenix, which are considered candidates for the championship next season, and while they gave away their young big man Deandre Ayton, they replaced him with Jussuf Nurkic and other players who strengthen the depth of the Arizona team club. Portland strengthened itself with Ayton and Jrue Holiday, who will mentor newcomer Scoot Henderson.

Since this trade is the biggest deal of this offseason, we will break down the winners and losers of this trade.

Who benefited from the agreement?

Milwaukee Bucks

Milwaukee has been under a lot of pressure this offseason, with franchise player Giannis Antetokounmpo threatening to leave the team if the roster isn’t strengthened to be championship-ready in the future. Instead of panicking and making an unnecessary trade, the Bucks decided to steal Damian Lillard from the Miami Heat. The 2021 NBA champions created one of the strongest duos in the NBA by convincing Giannis that he would be a star partner and a title contender next year.

The Wisconsin team will try to win the regular season again and have a successful performance in the NBA play-offs, which they failed to do last year. In addition to Lillard and Antetokounmpo, the team also has reliable players such as Brook Lopez, Bobby Portis and Khris Middleton.

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Giannis Antetokounmpo will always be a winner no matter what happens around him because he is one of the five best players in the world and holds all the power in the NBA. If Giannis is unhappy, he can request a trade and every team in the league will compete for him. If he stays, the team will have to build a championship squad around him. Fortunately for Milwaukee and the Greek, the second option is now possible.

BCMilwaukee Bucks. Giannis Antetokounmpo

Jrue Holiday has been a great player for Milwaukee, helping the team win a title in 2020-21 as an All-NBA Defensive guard. Although he is a great defender, Lillard is a superstar on another level and Giannis will have the best teammate he has ever had. Antetokounmpo has all the pieces he needs to win, and with Dame he can do what he does best, dominate on both ends of the floor.

Portland Trail Blazers

The Portland Trail Blazers may be considered losers for having to trade Damian Lillard after he requested a trade, but it actually worked to their advantage. The team wasn’t going to win with Lillard because the best they ever had was the Western Conference Finals in 2019 and they never came back. As a result, Portland had to look for the best deal available, and trading with the Bucks gives them a significant advantage.

First, Deandre Ayton is only 25 years old and despite the criticism he receives, he is a double-double machine. The big man’s career averages are 16.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per game, and alongside Scoot Henderson, Anfernee Simons and Shadon Sharpe, Ayton could be a reliable option to improve his game and has a good chance of restarting his career now. . Jrue Holiday is a star guard that Portland can continue to develop young players with or trade for other assets in the future. Overall, this was a good trade for the Trail Blazers.

Phoenix Suns

The amount of quality role players Phoenix has acquired is undeniably impressive. The Suns have four new pieces to replace Ayton: Jussuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson. Although Nurkic, who is considered the starting center, is not as talented as Ayton, he is much larger, standing at 213 cm tall and weighing 132 kg.

Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine. Devin Booker and Kevin Durant

Allen is a prolific 39.5% career three-point shooter, and it would be a huge advantage if Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal could find him in the corner of the floor to pass the ball in tight situations. Nassir Little is a solid role player who averaged 6.6 points per game last year, and the 23-year-old will be hitting double-digit scoring off the bench as he improves.

Shooting guard Keon Johnson, who averaged 9.7 points per game for the Trail Blazers last season, is another youngster who will show improvement. The Suns have superstars but needed depth on the roster and are joined by four new players in Eric Gordon, Josh Okogie, Yuta Watanabe and Bol Bol. The team’s current depth is truly impressive, and the addition of three more superstars makes the Phoenix Suns one of the top contenders for next season’s title.

Who is the loser?

Miami Heat

Miami Heat will have to start the season with the same players they had last season. Moreover, following the departures of Gabe Vincent and Max Strus, the Floridians’ roster looks weaker on paper than it did a year ago. Miami was sure that Damian Lillard would come to them, Lillard wanted it too, but it didn’t happen. Now the team needs to look for quality reinforcements, star players who can combine the talents of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. Tyler Herro should be back, which is good news, but it won’t be enough to compete for first place in the East next season.

Miami had to accept any offer from the Trail Blazers to trade Damian Lillard, but it seemed that the Heat did not want to give up on Caleb Martin, whom the Oregon team wanted. The Floridians could still find a star player to form a super trio, but they’ll probably do that this winter.

Jimmy Butler

Jimmy Butler was unlucky. The superstar forward expected to combine his talents with Lillard, and the departures of Gabe Vincent and Max Strus forced his team to do so. But Butler couldn’t get Lillard as a partner and had to renew his relationship with Tyler Herro, who was wanted to be traded and still held a grudge against the team.

Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine. Jimmy Butler

The Heat lost out on the Damian Lillard trade, and Jimmy Butler will bear the brunt of it. The player always carried the team on his shoulders, reaching the NBA finals in 2020 and 2023, but he is already 34 years old and there are serious doubts that he can repeat this for the third time.

Boston Celtics

Although the Boston Celtics looked like the favorites of the Eastern Conference in 2024 after trading Kristaps Porzingis, they left the Milwaukee Bucks behind. The Celtics’ big three of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis is impressive, but Milwaukee could be better. Antetokounmpo, Lillard and Middleton provide quality two-way play, and Porzingis’ health is a concern going forward.

As a result, the Celts may have difficulty returning to the NBA Finals as they do in the 2021-22 season. While Boston doesn’t think for a moment that a trip to the finals is guaranteed, their path is made even more difficult by the fact that Milwaukee’s two best players are better than Boston’s players.

Jrue Holiday

Jrue Holiday formed a strong trio with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton in Milwaukee. Holiday was named to the All-Star team and the three-time Defensive Player of the Year team and was the final piece in the 2021 championship puzzle. But it looks like Holiday won’t have another opportunity to win the championship again.

Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine. Jrue Holiday

The holiday doesn’t fit with Portland’s long-term strategy. At 33, he doesn’t have much time to play on a rebuilding team, and unless he gets traded from Portland, he’ll have to settle for a future without playoff appearances or individual accolades.

Fadeawayworld.

Translation and adaptation – Dmitry Oleynik