The Milwaukee Bucks continue to prepare for an NBA championship with one of the most loaded teams in the league.
Milwaukee made a bold move last offseason by striking a deal for one of the NBA’s best players to team up with Giannis Antetokounmpo. Fast forward to now, their addition isn’t even considered a sidekick in the top five in the league according to Ben Rohrbach of Yahoo Sports.
When the Bucks acquired Damian Lillard before the start of last season, the Eastern Conference team shot up the odds as a championship favorite. However, after a lackluster season for Milwaukee, it appears the league’s basketball minds may have forgotten just how talented the former Portland Trail Blazers superstar is.
The guard averaged 24.3 points, seven assists and 4.4 rebounds while shooting 42.4 percent from field goal distance and 35.4 percent from three in his first season with his new team. While Lillard’s stats were still among the best in the league, the Bucks star is held to a different standard due to his season the year before.
In 2022-23, the Weber State product averaged 32.2 points, 7.3 assists and 4.8 rebounds on a Portland team that failed to put enough talent around the point guard Despite this, Lillard still produced at a high level in Milwaukee while adapting to his first collaboration with another superstar on the level of the Greek Freak.
At 34 years old, Lillard is still one of the best players in the league. While the Bucks are undoubtedly Antetokounmpo’s team, one could argue that the former lottery pick is Milwaukee’s No. 1 option on offense.
Either way, not ranking Lillard among the league’s top five sidekicks might be one of the boldest moves of the offseason.
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