Shams: Damian Lillard Returning to the Blazers on a 3-yr/$42M Deal

[firedavidkahn]

SO Dame throwing a temper tantrum was completely worthless in the end.

Grass isn't always greener, bud.

[Johnny Bball]

The single best thing that happened to the Raptors in the last two years was the day Damian Lilliard said he didn't want to go to Toronto and any trade fell through and he went to the Bucks instead. Just a massive albatross on the necks of the Bucks.

[old skool]

By the time Lillard steps onto the court with the Trailblazers, he will be older than Clyde Drexler was when he retired from the NBA. That return will be joyous. But expectations should be low for a player who will have averaged only 43 games played since passing age 30 five seasons previously. Increasingly expect minutes and starring roles to go to others while Lillard watches.

I think this is fair. I'll also say to those games played stats tho, his last 3 season in Portland before the Bucks trade, the Blazers largely shut him down to tank. One was a legit injury if I remember, but most were just wanting to get a high pick so don't bother coming back.

I get that the Blazers were comfortable letting Lillard sit some games in lost seasons in recent years, but the picture does not change much by disregarding his time in Portland.

By the time Lillard steps on the court in 2026-27 he will have played in an average of 44 games per season in the three years since being traded by Portland.

Injuries and fewer games played should be expected. This is what happens to older NBA stars. Their bodies break down. They stop playing hard on defense. They become a big name on the roster that contributes little to team success. Kobe Bryant was skilled enough to score 60 points in his final game but he was a shell of an NBA player, averaging 34 games played over his last 3 seasons at age 35, 36, & 37. The Lakers won 65 games total in those 3 seasons.

[Pattycakes]

They’re just mad cause we turned Anfernee Simons into 3 MIL picks (post Giannis), Camara, Avdija and Jrue Holiday.

Take notes NBA, chef Joe Cronin is cooking harder than anyone ever has.

[old skool]

Please someone explain me how this Lillard contract will effect Bucks salary cap?

Milwaukee's ability to trade or sign players will not be impacted by Lillard signing with Portland. Milwaukee will save money and will have their luxury tax payment reduced or eliminated for each of the two seasons of Lillard's contract that was stretched. This will happen because the CBA allows roughly $5-mil of salary to be offset each of those two seasons. But the exact amount of the offset is not calculated until after the regular season is over so that his final compensation, including any buyout, can be included in the calculation. Because of that timing, the offset amount does not impact Milwaukee's status with respect to the salary cap during the period when player transactions can occur. The offset impacts the just ended season only and does not create an exception for the next season.

[165bows]

They’re just mad cause we turned Anfernee Simons into 3 MIL picks (post Giannis), Camara, Avdija and Jrue Holiday.

Take notes NBA, chef Joe Cronin is cooking harder than anyone ever has.

He better foods been a bit cold for awhile lol

[DusterBuster]

By the time Lillard steps onto the court with the Trailblazers, he will be older than Clyde Drexler was when he retired from the NBA. That return will be joyous. But expectations should be low for a player who will have averaged only 43 games played since passing age 30 five seasons previously. Increasingly expect minutes and starring roles to go to others while Lillard watches.

I think this is fair. I'll also say to those games played stats tho, his last 3 season in Portland before the Bucks trade, the Blazers largely shut him down to tank. One was a legit injury if I remember, but most were just wanting to get a high pick so don't bother coming back.

I get that the Blazers were comfortable letting Lillard sit some games in lost seasons in recent years, but the picture does not change much by disregarding his time in Portland.

By the time Lillard steps on the court in 2026-27 he will have played in an average of 44 games per season in the three years since being traded by Portland.

Injuries and fewer games played should be expected. This is what happens to older NBA stars. Their bodies break down. They stop playing hard on defense. They become a big name on the roster that contributes little to team success. Kobe Bryant was skilled enough to score 60 points in his final game but he was a shell of an NBA player, averaging 34 games played over his last 3 seasons at age 35, 36, & 37. The Lakers won 65 games total in those 3 seasons.

Not saying you're wrong, just adding some context.

Jerami Grant for example hasn't played a game past March for the past 4 years in Portland as well.

[DusterBuster]

They’re just mad cause we turned Anfernee Simons into 3 MIL picks (post Giannis), Camara, Avdija and Jrue Holiday.

Take notes NBA, chef Joe Cronin is cooking harder than anyone ever has.

He better foods been a bit cold for awhile lol

I know there's meant to be a joke here somewhere, but having a hard time finding it.

[DusterBuster]

SO Dame throwing a temper tantrum was completely worthless in the end.

Grass isn't always greener, bud.

I mean, it wasn't totally worthless. The Blazers got out of his massive supermax contract as he got to the latter years of that deal (something all fans said would bite the Blazers in the end) and they restocked their asset chest - which was completely depleted due to Neil Olshey trading away a lot of FRPs for mediocre players like Larry Nance Jr and Robert Covingtion. So Dame still got paid, the Blazers got another team to foot the bill, and the team got younger, longer, more athletic and has more assets to build with for the very end of his career.

Dame also won a All Star MVP and won the in-season tourney - which while not a full title, is an accomplishment or sorts I guess?

It's all still a very surreal situation.

I'm also not gonna give Cronin a ton of flowers here, he's made some good moves, and some baffling moves... and this Dame situation truly came out of nowhere and just sort of fell into his lap with the surprise waive by the Bucks. Credit to him tho for just going for it. When Dame showed interest in a reunion, Cronin could have said "thanks but no thanks, we've moved on", but he didn't.

It would have been really interesting to be a fly in the wall for the talks between Cronin, Dame and Billups when they were figuring this all out. Dame and Cronin were basically not communicating for some time after the deal.

[firedavidkahn]

SO Dame throwing a temper tantrum was completely worthless in the end.

Grass isn't always greener, bud.

I mean, it wasn't totally worthless. The Blazers got out of his massive supermax contract as he got to the latter years of that deal (something all fans said would bite the Blazers in the end) and they restocked their asset chest - which was completely depleted due to Neil Olshey trading away a lot of FRPs for mediocre players like Larry Nance Jr and Robert Covingtion. So Dame still got paid, the Blazers got another team to foot the bill, and the team got younger, longer, more athletic and has more assets to build with for the very end of his career.

Dame also won a All Star MVP and won the in-season tourney - which while not a full title, is an accomplishment or sorts I guess?

It's all still a very surreal situation.

I'm also not gonna give Cronin a ton of flowers here, he's made some good moves, and some baffling moves... and this Dame situation truly came out of nowhere and just sort of fell into his lap with the surprise waive by the Bucks. Credit to him tho for just going for it. When Dame showed interest in a reunion, Cronin could have said "thanks but no thanks, we've moved on", but he didn't.

It would have been really interesting to be a fly in the wall for the talks between Cronin, Dame and Billups when they were figuring this all out. Dame and Cronin were basically not communicating for some time after the deal.

This is the silliest thing possible to highlight as an achievement.

Edit: In-season tournament*******

Regardless, though you are correct in a way. For the Blazers they made out like bandits. Dame got nothing out of this.

[DusterBuster]

SO Dame throwing a temper tantrum was completely worthless in the end.

Grass isn't always greener, bud.

I mean, it wasn't totally worthless. The Blazers got out of his massive supermax contract as he got to the latter years of that deal (something all fans said would bite the Blazers in the end) and they restocked their asset chest - which was completely depleted due to Neil Olshey trading away a lot of FRPs for mediocre players like Larry Nance Jr and Robert Covingtion. So Dame still got paid, the Blazers got another team to foot the bill, and the team got younger, longer, more athletic and has more assets to build with for the very end of his career.

Dame also won a All Star MVP and won the in-season tourney - which while not a full title, is an accomplishment or sorts I guess?

It's all still a very surreal situation.

I'm also not gonna give Cronin a ton of flowers here, he's made some good moves, and some baffling moves... and this Dame situation truly came out of nowhere and just sort of fell into his lap with the surprise waive by the Bucks. Credit to him tho for just going for it. When Dame showed interest in a reunion, Cronin could have said "thanks but no thanks, we've moved on", but he didn't.

It would have been really interesting to be a fly in the wall for the talks between Cronin, Dame and Billups when they were figuring this all out. Dame and Cronin were basically not communicating for some time after the deal.

This is the silliest thing possible to highlight as an achievement.

Edit: In-season tournament*******

Regardless, though you are correct in a way. For the Blazers they made out like bandits. Dame got nothing out of this.

I mean, I agree about IST, but it is something (not much of a thing - I agree, but a thing).

Dame got a good life lesson out of it? Melo was a big influence on him asking out. He was in Dame's ear a lot of their time together in Portland tell him he will need to go somewhere else to win. Blazers sent him to a good spot on paper, a recent champs and a true superstar. The team he wanted originally ended up being a hot mess (Heat) and likely wouldn't have done anything either.

He ended up finding out that family was more important than a ring. And while we all can laugh at the IST (rightfully so), I believe that might have scratched a bit of a championship itch for him personally. So with that, then the huge pull of how hard it was for him to be so far away from his kids and not just being able to drive him from the PF or the arena after games and see them... He learned the lesson of what mattered most. Corny as hell, but he got something out of the experience.

[Capn'O]

I don't know why we're acting like:

1) The Blazers weren't trying to rebuild when Dame asked out
2) Dame didn't rupture his Achilles this year and get cut by the Bucks because of that

Dame doesn't ask out if the Blazers were trying to put pieces around him and they weren't in a meaningful way. They were unwilling to part with their rebuild pieces to improve the team. They sat him for the last quarter or so of his last year there to tank when they still had a legit chance of making the playoffs. If you look at the on-off they were a plus team when Dame played and literally the worst team in the league when he was on the bench. They also trade Josh Hart who had the second best on-off on the team and drafted Dame's replacement. The team was going in a non-Dame direction.


Then he ruptures his Achilles in this playoffs. If that doesn't happen the Bucks run it back with a few changes and all of this doesn't happen. It wasn't a "the grass isn't always greener" situation. He got injured and he got cut because of it. With the Blazers willing to rehab a diminished Dame and looking to take a step forward from their rebuild it made sense for him to return to his family. The situation changed dramatically because of this unexpected outcome. With the Bucks he had the chance to compete as a main option. He no longer has that chance.

Some of you here are drama llamas that go out of your way to make star players look like clowns. I really wonder how much a lot of you even enjoy the game or if it's all about the gossip and bringing players down.

[DusterBuster]

I don't know why we're acting like:

1) The Blazers weren't trying to rebuild when Dame asked out
2) Dame didn't rupture his Achilles this year and get cut by the Bucks because of that

Dame doesn't ask out if the Blazers were trying to put pieces around him and they weren't in a meaningful way. They were unwilling to part with their rebuild pieces to improve the team. They sat him for the last quarter or so of his last year there to tank when they still had a legit chance of making the playoffs. If you look at the on-off they were a plus team when Dame played and literally the worst team in the league when he was on the bench. They also trade Josh Hart who had the second best on-off on the team and drafted Dame's replacement. The team was going in a non-Dame direction.


Then he ruptures his Achilles in this playoffs. If that doesn't happen the Bucks run it back with a few changes and all of this doesn't happen. It wasn't a "the grass isn't always greener" situation. He got injured and he got cut because of it. With the Blazers willing to rehab a diminished Dame and looking to take a step forward from their rebuild it made sense for him to return to his family. The situation changed dramatically because of this unexpected outcome. With the Bucks he had the chance to compete as a main option. He no longer has that chance.

Some of you here are drama llamas that go out of your way to make star players look like clowns. I really wonder how much a lot of you even enjoy the game or if it's all about the gossip and bringing players down.

This is all 100% accurate.

I also wonder about the "what-if" scenario if Dame didn't get injured.

The Dame and Giannis pairing was - for whatever reason - never natural for the two of them. On top of that, the Bucks were still incredibly locked into that team and it seemed to be pretty clear Dame wasn't loving being in Milwaukee. They still would have likely lost Lopez and had no real way to replace him as well.

I guess this is all a long way to ask... would the Bucks have still moved on from Dame anyway? Maybe they don't stretch waive him, maybe they find a way to move him for multiple parts somewhere else? Dame was the Bucks only real asset that had any value (pre-injury that is).

[Capn'O]

I guess this is all a long way to ask... would the Bucks have still moved on from Dame anyway? Maybe they don't stretch waive him, maybe they find a way to move him for multiple parts somewhere else? Dame was the Bucks only real asset that had any value (pre-injury that is).

It's a good question but one we can't really answer without the outcome of these past playoffs. Do they advance or do the Pacers still beat them? Then how far could they get? The Pacers played out of their minds but if the Bucks figured it out and got hot at the right time they could have gone a long way. That injury set a lot in motion.

[DusterBuster]

I guess this is all a long way to ask... would the Bucks have still moved on from Dame anyway? Maybe they don't stretch waive him, maybe they find a way to move him for multiple parts somewhere else? Dame was the Bucks only real asset that had any value (pre-injury that is).

It's a good question but one we can't really answer without the outcome of these past playoffs. Do they advance or do the Pacers still beat them? Then how far could they get? The Pacers played out of their minds but if the Bucks figured it out and got hot at the right time they could have gone a long way. That injury set a lot in motion.

Obviously it's all hypothetical, however, even healthy, the Pacers were the absolute worst possible first round draw for the Bucks. Dame's whole time in Milwaukee, the Pacers just had their number. They were always a bad matchup for the Bucks roster. I honestly don't think the outcome would have been different (as in first round exit) without the injury.

If the Bucks had a first round exit with both a healthy Dame and Giannis, that's when I think the Bucks might have seriously considered breaking it up since it wasn't working. They probably could have found a taker for Dame, got some pieces not as good as Dame, but multiple parts to retool the roster at different spots instead of a ton of money at one spot.

[monopoman]

SO Dame throwing a temper tantrum was completely worthless in the end.

Grass isn't always greener, bud.

I mean, it wasn't totally worthless. The Blazers got out of his massive supermax contract as he got to the latter years of that deal (something all fans said would bite the Blazers in the end) and they restocked their asset chest - which was completely depleted due to Neil Olshey trading away a lot of FRPs for mediocre players like Larry Nance Jr and Robert Covingtion. So Dame still got paid, the Blazers got another team to foot the bill, and the team got younger, longer, more athletic and has more assets to build with for the very end of his career.

Dame also won a All Star MVP and won the in-season tourney - which while not a full title, is an accomplishment or sorts I guess?

It's all still a very surreal situation.

I'm also not gonna give Cronin a ton of flowers here, he's made some good moves, and some baffling moves... and this Dame situation truly came out of nowhere and just sort of fell into his lap with the surprise waive by the Bucks. Credit to him tho for just going for it. When Dame showed interest in a reunion, Cronin could have said "thanks but no thanks, we've moved on", but he didn't.

It would have been really interesting to be a fly in the wall for the talks between Cronin, Dame and Billups when they were figuring this all out. Dame and Cronin were basically not communicating for some time after the deal.

This is the silliest thing possible to highlight as an achievement.

Edit: In-season tournament*******

Regardless, though you are correct in a way. For the Blazers they made out like bandits. Dame got nothing out of this.

It's mostly because it's a new thing in 30 years it will be so a normal part of the NBA that people just give it far more prestige. You can bet your ass you will start seeing arguments that player X is great because they have 2 NBA Finals wins and 3 in-season tournament wins, over a guy that has 3 NBA Finals and 0 in-season wins with similar stats.

[Capn'O]

I guess this is all a long way to ask... would the Bucks have still moved on from Dame anyway? Maybe they don't stretch waive him, maybe they find a way to move him for multiple parts somewhere else? Dame was the Bucks only real asset that had any value (pre-injury that is).

It's a good question but one we can't really answer without the outcome of these past playoffs. Do they advance or do the Pacers still beat them? Then how far could they get? The Pacers played out of their minds but if the Bucks figured it out and got hot at the right time they could have gone a long way. That injury set a lot in motion.

Obviously it's all hypothetical, however, even healthy, the Pacers were the absolute worst possible first round draw for the Bucks. Dame's whole time in Milwaukee, the Pacers just had their number. They were always a bad matchup for the Bucks roster. I honestly don't think the outcome would have been different (as in first round exit) without the injury.

If the Bucks had a first round exit with both a healthy Dame and Giannis, that's when I think the Bucks might have seriously considered breaking it up since it wasn't working. They probably could have found a taker for Dame, got some pieces not as good as Dame, but multiple parts to retool the roster at different spots instead of a ton of money at one spot.

I think that's right.

That said, the Pacers ended up being a "bad draw" for a lot of teams which ultimately meant they were a (bites lip) really good team.

[DusterBuster]

It's a good question but one we can't really answer without the outcome of these past playoffs. Do they advance or do the Pacers still beat them? Then how far could they get? The Pacers played out of their minds but if the Bucks figured it out and got hot at the right time they could have gone a long way. That injury set a lot in motion.

Obviously it's all hypothetical, however, even healthy, the Pacers were the absolute worst possible first round draw for the Bucks. Dame's whole time in Milwaukee, the Pacers just had their number. They were always a bad matchup for the Bucks roster. I honestly don't think the outcome would have been different (as in first round exit) without the injury.

If the Bucks had a first round exit with both a healthy Dame and Giannis, that's when I think the Bucks might have seriously considered breaking it up since it wasn't working. They probably could have found a taker for Dame, got some pieces not as good as Dame, but multiple parts to retool the roster at different spots instead of a ton of money at one spot.

I think that's right.

That said, the Pacers ended up being a "bad draw" for a lot of teams which ultimately meant they were a (bites lip) really good team.

Lol, fair. I guess I was thinking even from before this past season. The season before the Pacers had the Bucks number too, even during regular season games when both Dame and Giannis were healthy.

[DusterBuster]

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This is genuinely one of the most... this really doesn't make sense moves... but I'm alright with it.

A pure vibes and "do what you think is right" signing that overrides any actual "basketball sense" move. If you're talking about the good will of the city and give the franchise something to be happy about. 11/10 signing.

Where the **** is any of this going and what is the plan? 2/10 signing.

Don't care about the latter.

[DusterBuster]

For anyone saying "Dame got nothing from his trade demand"...

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