The Milwaukee Bucks are different today. I don’t know if they are better.
It’s started out with an innocent morning post from Giannis.
Who knew what that was going to end up signaling for the day?
First, they announced the MASSIVE signing of C Myles Turner, stealing him away from hated rival Indiana, who obviously just enjoyed a run game 7 of the NBA Finals. That part ALONE was shocking.
Then we found out how they afforded it.
Damian Lillard will forever be known as a guy who got stretched and waived. The Bucks will now pay Lillard $22 million over the next 5 years to NOT play for Milwaukee.
How did this come to be? Let’s start with Lillard. He is coming of an Achilles injury and will be out for this entire season. On top of that, he’s already 34 years old, and small guards don’t age well even without devastating injuries. Lillard has never been a good defender and it’s been noticeably horrible in Milwaukee, a team that used to be known for its elite defense.
Dame and Giannis only got to play two playoff games together. When they were on the court together, they were dynamic offensively. But the defensive and injury issues plagued this partnership from the start. Trading for Dame was a desperate move to begin with. Waiving him and signing Turner feels like a potential last gasp for this era of Milwaukee.
Turner’s deal is kind of insane. He gets a player option and a 15% trade kicker. It’s extremely player friendly and I’m sure it had to be to convince Turner to leave Indiana, because he loved it there but they reportedly wouldn’t go over 3 years or $20 million per year.
He’s good. He’s not great. He disappeared in the series against OKC and it was noticeable, because he had been so good before that in the playoffs. Pairing him with Giannis definitely improves the Bucks defensive profile, but they were already a thin roster, they are still lacking offensive talent and Giannis apparently isn’t happy with how everything went down. This is going to be something to monitor all season long.
I also feel horribly for Pacers fans. Just over a week ago you were entering Game 7 with a legit shot to be NBA champs.
Fast forward to this morning, their star is out for the year and their second best player is on a division rivals roster for the foreseeable future.
Life in the NBA moves fast. Whether you are tearing it down or trying to salvage a stars waning prime, you never know when things might completely switch up on your team.
So enjoy the ride while you’re on it.