(Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
The NBA offseason got ugly for the Portland Trail Blazers and superstar guard Damian Lillard, with the two sides not seeing eye-to-eye resulting in a trade request and what seemed to be a standoff with the perennial All-Star wanting to be traded to the Miami Heat but the team having other ideas.
After months and months of trade speculation and bad blood brewing between the franchise and its superstar, the Blazers were finally able to get a deal done, with the team sending Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks to team up with Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Even though Lillard didn’t get his wish to end up in South Beach with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, the end result of the trade saga may have been a blessing in disguise, with Milwaukee now being one of the few elite teams in the league during the 2023-24 campaign.
Once the dust settled on this blockbuster trade, there didn’t seem to be any animosity on either side, as Lillard and the Blazers moved on, and it looks as though there’s no bad blood between the superstar and head coach Chauncey Billups either, via Yahoo Sports.
Blazers HC Chauncey Billups says he and Dame have talked several times since the trade and is happy for him pic.twitter.com/rEwp5AS8cI
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) November 9, 2023
The real question from here on out is whether Lillard will go on to win a championship with the Bucks while playing with Antetokounmpo and if the Blazers made the right choice going all-in on rookie Scoot Henderson.
At this point, the Bucks are terrible defensively, while Henderson has really struggled to make an impact as the new face of the franchise in Portland.
Even though it hasn’t been great results for either side, it is way too early to say who won this trade.
The post Chauncey Billups Details His Relationship With Damian Lillard appeared first on The Cold Wire.