No one wanted the Damian Lillard era to end the way it did. After Lillard tore his Achilles in the playoffs, the Milwaukee Bucks made the best of a bad situation by waive-and-stretching him in order to sign Myles Turner in free agency. Many pundits blasted the move as imprudent. By stretching Lillard’s $113 million salary, the Bucks will have around $22M in dead money on the books each of the next five years.
From a win-now perspective, though, it was an obvious choice. Owner Wes Edens elaborated on the rationale as he addressed reporters for the team’s preseason media day.
With the dust settled, Bucks’ bold swing makes a world of sense
Reunited with the Trail Blazers, Lillard is expected to miss all or most of 2025-26. Under pressure to maximize Giannis Antetokounmpo’s prime, the Bucks opted against a so-called “gap year” while waiting for his return, which would essentially concede the season. Who knows what shape he will be in, coming off injury at age 36, when he retakes the floor in 2026-27?
“Damian was owed a lot of money. He was not gonna play basketball this year. So then, stretching out that money over 5 years, it became a much more digestible number,” Odens said.
Certainly his dead money weighs down the books, but compared to paying him $50M-plus to do nothing, counting on him to return full strength, and then lose him in free agency a year later, the brazen maneuver was all but a no-brainer.
“When you have a player of Damian’s caliber who is not gonna play, that’s a big gap,” continued Odens. “We felt like it was very rational after thinking long and hard.”
Despite national media naysaying, Turner is a rather obvious upgrade over having no one at all – or some minimum-contract player – in Lillard’s place. With a new identity built around point-Giannis, tough defense, and youthful energy, the Bucks could be better this season – especially in a wide open Eastern Conference.
Lillard’s -2.9 on-off rating suggests that he had a negative impact last season. That amounts to -7 wins in an 82-game season (Lillard played 58). Perhaps that’s surprising, but perhaps not. Now that he is gone, the initial heartache dulled, Bucks fans can finally admit the dubious nature of the Giannis-Lillard experiment.
A target on defense, Lillard has been replaced by much better defenders in Kevin Porter Jr. and Ryan Rollins as mainstays in the point guard rotation. What is surprising is that Lillard did not even grade out well on offense, contributing -0.8 points per 100 possessions. This season, the Bucks are adopting a fast-paced offense and moving away from static iso-ball.
It this new-look approach guaranteed to succeed? Of course not. Without a clear No. 2 option behind him, Giannis staying healthy is more critical than ever. But is it worth a shot? Well – given everything in context, including looming Giannis extension talks – duh.
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