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Scoot over, Dame. You’re headed to the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Portland Trail Blazers have an in-principle agreement to trade franchise superstar Damian Lillard, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
In return for Lillard, the Blazers are set to receive DeAndre Ayton from the Phoenix Suns and Jrue Holiday plus a 2029 first-round pick and first-round pick swaps in 2028 and 2030 from the Bucks. Jusuf Nurkic, Nassir Little, and Keon Johnson are also reportedly headed to Phoenix as part of the three-team deal.
Let’s get the hard part out of the way: This trade is a win for general manager Joe Cronin and the Blazers, who operated under the radar amid national media pressure since Lillard demanded a trade to the Miami Heat in July.
Ayton headlines the return package for the Blazers. The 6-foot-11 center has been a walking double-double during his five-year career, punctuated by an extremely efficient 60% career field goal percentage. He has the athleticism, range and skill that his predecessor lacked at times. In a vacuum, Nurkic is a better overall defender—Ayton struggles on that end. But Ayton will be a better fit for the feisty, switch-heavy game plan that head coach Chauncey Billups seems to prefer.
The Blazers other core players further complement Ayton’s fit. Jerami Grant’s biggest weakness, rebounding, will be partially mitigated by the team’s new starting center. Scoot Henderson and Grant have already shown an aptitude to be plus defenders. If Shaedon Sharpe’s fuzzy potential on that end comes into focus, Ayton is athletic enough to act as a cog in a team defense machine.
Ayton reportedly wore out his welcome in Phoenix, but he should slot perfectly into Portland’s rotation. Cronin and Billups are presumably banking that the good fit and change of scenery are enough to form a positive relationship with their new player. Plus Ayton is under contract until 2026; there’s no one-and-done risk here.
If all goes well, the 24-year-old could be Portland’s first All-Star frontcourt player since LaMarcus Aldridge.
In addition to Ayton, the trade gives Cronin more tools to work with to build out the rest of the rotation. According to Wojnarowski, the Blazers are looking to flip Holiday. The 33-year-old two-time All-Star is still very talented but doesn’t fit Portland’s positional needs or timeline. Cronin should be able to get more draft capital in exchange for the defensive specialist.
The 2029 pick from Milwaukee and the 2028 and 2030 pick swaps could also be extremely valuable. Giannis Antetokounmpo’s current contract runs through 2026. Lillard’s contract runs through 2027. Rumors have already circulated that Antetokounmpo’s willing to leave when or if the Bucks are no longer championship contenders. (Admittedly, this trade may have rendered that anxiety moot.) It’s very possible Cronin inherited three lottery picks today.
With all that said, there are still potholes for the Blazers to dodge down the road ahead. The team has done very little to fortify the roster since drafting Henderson. Tools like the midlevel exception, biannual exception, and Gary Payton II trade exception remain unused. The big-man rotation looks particularly dire. At some point, they will probably have to choose between Sharpe and Anfernee Simons at shooting guard. This season almost certainly ends with lottery balls rather than playoff tickets.
Those downsides, however, should be filed as harsh realities of NBA rebuilding, not harbingers of doom. There is an entirely feasible scenario where Henderson, Sharpe, Ayton and Grant all reach their potential and form the core of a deep playoff run in 2028. Meanwhile, Cronin spends the summer making Milwaukee’s lottery picks. In a perfect world, that’s a “Lakers win the title and draft James Worthy in 1982″ scenario.
Regardless of championship daydreams, the point is that if the core develops, as we all hope, Cronin has tools at his disposal to build out the rest of the roster.
Losing Lillard sucks. This season might be rough. But there is light at the end of the tunnel.