Damian Lillard Rumors

The Milwaukee Bucks are preparing for what could be a make or break season as it pertains to their employment of franchise cornerstone Giannis Antetokounmpo. Trade talks surrounding Antetokounmpo have heated up in the last few weeks, and it remains to be seen whether the Bucks’ marginal additions this offseason will be enough to convince the Greek Freak not to seek greener pastures. With Damian Lillard now back with the Portland Trail Blazers and the Bucks lacking talent at essentially every position besides power forward, many expect Antetokounmpo to put up a career this year and do all of the heavy lifting, including former NBA All-Star Blake Griffin. “I’m gonna go with Giannis… He’s gonna be playing close to 40 minutes a night, averaging whatever ungodly numbers he does,” said Griffin, when asked who he thinks will win this year’s NBA MVP award, per the Post Moves with Candace Parker & Aliyah Boston.

Clutch Points

“You’ll see that it’s going to kill some of the smaller market teams that go for it,” another front office source told Heavy. “Milwaukee got a championship, but then it started costing them so much money that they had to make moves to cut back. The biggest reason to trade Khris Middleton was that it got them off some money. To be able to sign Myles Turner, they had to do the thing with (Dame) Lillard (waive and stretch his remaining money over five years). They had to do that to stay under that apron.

Heavy.com

Duane Rankin: “He’s standing on his square about what he wants to accomplish. It’s not about what everybody else is doing. He’s standing on what he wants to do and who he is, and I think that’s the most important thing.” Damian Lillard on Devin Booker when asked about loyalty. #Suns #RipCity

Twitter

Duane Rankin: "It can feel like you're not having much growth and then, after a couple of weeks, it'll be like, oh man, I'm walking comfortable." Talked with Damian Lillard at his Formula Zero 2025 Elite Camp about his rehab from a torn Achilles, his camp, approach to 2025-26 season, Devin Booker and more. Story incoming. #RipCity #Suns

Twitter

It was the culmination of days of fanfare surrounding Lillard's return, including the team's social media team capturing Lillard's first return back into the home locker room, and seeing his placard for the first time, right where he left it. He was overcome with joy. "Truthfully, he never wanted to leave," a source told ESPN.

ESPN

Lillard always saw himself back in Portland, sources said, telling people close to him that he planned to end his career with the Blazers even before he was traded to Milwaukee.

ESPN

Goodwin communicated to the Blazers that Lillard would stay in Portland, but after months of speculation, the team wanted to resolve the request by training camp, sources told ESPN. With a week to go, Lillard was traded to Milwaukee. "More than anything, it was miscommunications and misunderstandings," Lillard said. "Joe and I never talked about [a potential return]. It just sat out there and we let it be what it was, I think that was the mistake." But just a few months after the trade, steps toward a potential reunion started to take shape. Goodwin and Cronin had a conversation in January, where they identified the gaps in their communication and said that if there were any hard feelings, they had long since dissipated.

ESPN

As soon as Lillard became the unlikeliest of free agents, the Blazers made their interest known. Cronin went to meet Lillard at his Portland home, sources told ESPN, to see the franchise icon surrounded by his family, to check on how he was doing, both mentally and physically with the rehab of his torn Achilles. As they talked, they each presented their respective vision for the team's future. "It wasn't a long conversation to move past that, and that was because we never had a bad relationship or it was never a dislike," Lillard said.

ESPN

In late June 2023, agent Aaron Goodwin called Blazers GM Cronin to confirm what was already all over social media: His client Damian Lillard wanted out. With Portland not even a playoff team, Lillard wanted to leave to try to win a championship. After 11 seasons, he believed he’d earned the opportunity. Within minutes, a conference call had been convened. Allen said that the club should honor Lillard’s wishes, but in a way that fulfilled the long-term interests of the franchise. “Jody gave us clear direction to explore all options, to explore them with rational thinking and to think outside the box,” Hankins says.

Sports Business Journal

Shams Charania: This is a very tough decision for him though. This is 12 years he spent there. There's a lot of equity there. He won a championship there. This type of move isn't going to be easy because this is a Milwaukee Bucks organization. They went out and they stretched and waved Damian Lillard $103 million. They did that because they wanted to show Giannis ‘we're doing everything in our power to keep you here’. But Giannis Antetokounmpo is the ultimate decider whether he feels this roster is good enough.

YouTube

As the calendar flips to August, Russell Westbrook is still a free agent. In the summer of reunions that sees Damian Lillard return to Portland and Chris Paul return to the Clippers, the outcries from Thunder fans have only grown to bring back their franchise icon, floundering in free agency. There are only two problems. The Thunder don't have a roster spot and Westbrook doesn't fit this iteration of the team.

Sports Illustrated

After about 90 minutes of autograph signing, Damian Lillard took the mic at center court Saturday evening in Swenson Gym. Simply by his presence, he’s the man of the moment in any of the six times he’s hosted the Weber State Basketball Alumni Classic. But this time he had a particular moment of his own to make. He’s stepping into an active, official role for Weber State basketball as general manager.

Standard-Examiner

“It’s something that, my relationship with coach (Eric) Duft and this program means a lot to me, and seeing the success of the program means a lot to me,” Lillard told the full gym that burst into a short cheer at his announcement. “I feel like I can do a lot to help the program be successful, to help the players even individually continue to grow their careers past college, that’s something that I’m passionate about.”

Standard-Examiner

Injuries played a big role in the results for the Bucks the last two years. Does it feel like your time here was incomplete because of that? Damian Lillard: So I think it’s kind of unfair how people was like Dame (isn’t the same) because of the way I played in Portland. I had the ball all the time, so it just looked different. But I think for how productive I actually was I think it’s been viewed unfairly. Because how many other people have averaged 25 a game with seven assists as the No. 1 option, let alone playing with somebody like Giannis? But I wouldn’t say it was incomplete. I thought we just couldn’t stay healthy. I think that’s the biggest hurdle. That was our biggest hurdle and each year that was the case.”

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel