Milwaukee Bucks general manager Jon Horst defended the team's decision to waive-and-stretch Damian Lillard in order to create enough cap space to sign Myles Turner in an exclusive interview with The Athletic. The Bucks stretched Lillard's $113 million contract over five years to create cap space for Turner's four-year, $108.9 million deal. The decision was made in order to maximize their chances of competing during the tenure of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Lillard is expected to miss most of the 2025-26 season recovering from a torn left Achilles tendon. The move places approximately $22.5 million in dead money on Milwaukee's salary cap for the next five seasons.
"Maximizing Giannis' prime, our opportunities to win, I feel like that's our responsibility always. So it was really a now versus future decision," Horst told The Athletic.
Horst revealed that Turner had been a long-term target for the organization. The opportunity arose after Tyrese Haliburton's injury affected Indiana's plans during the NBA Finals run.
"This was one that we were always exploring. And Myles has always been a target," Horst explained.
The Bucks plan to expand Antetokounmpo's playmaking responsibilities next season. Doc Rivers has publicly advocated for utilizing Antetokounmpo in a point forward role.
"He truly is becoming a real point guard. His decision-making is elite. His turnover game is reducing," Horst said of the two-time MVP.
Despite consecutive playoff disappointments, Horst expressed confidence in Rivers' coaching abilities. The Bucks finished with 50-win seasons in both years under Rivers despite significant injury challenges.
"He's a championship-level coach. He's the right coach to get us to where we want to go," Horst stated.
Horst was asked if he feels he's done enough this offseason to put together a team around Antetokounmpo capable of competing.
"Have we done enough? We’ve done everything, I’ve done everything within my human possible power this offseason," said Horst. "I feel like our group works our butts off. I’ve got to shout out Dave Dean, Ryan Hoover, Milt Newton, Pat Haneman, Samer Jassar, David Mincberg, and Arjun Mahendroo, the whole group, we do everything we can to get better. We do everything we can to put the next version of this thing out there, to give Doc and Giannis and Bobby and Scoot (Kevin Porter Jr.) and the guys on our team every chance that they can to win every night.
And so have we done enough? I don’t know. We’ll find out. Have we done everything that we possibly could? Absolutely. And have we done more than anyone else could possibly do? I believe we have. And that’s not an arrogant thing to say. In a very humble way. I think we’ve done as much or more than anyone else could possibly do, and I’m proud of that.
