The Milwaukee Bucks‘ trade for seven-time All-Star Damian Lillard has created an immense buzz around the team. Thousands of fans waited hours for Lillard’s arrival in Milwaukee and the Bucks are now one of the favorites to win the NBA Championship this season.
At the Bucks’ media day, there was a great deal of optimism and excitement from the players and coaches, too. All-Star forward Khris Middleton even predicted career years for himself, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Lillard.
But there is some level of disappointment that came with the trade, and that was the inclusion of Jrue Holiday in the deal. Holiday and his wife, Lauren, were pillars of the community in Milwaukee and their departure is not easy for those they have helped.
As it turns out, it is not easy on them either.
Jrue Holiday’s Wife, Lauren, Calls Out the Milwaukee Bucks For Not Thinking of Them As Human Beings
On Wednesday evening, Lauren Holiday posted the following on Instagram:
View this post on Instagram
Her post goes onto to say that she and her family are human beings. Their children just started school and had built friendships in the community.
Holiday also wrote that her husband laid down for a nap, and when he woke up he found out he had been traded. There had been no prior indication from the Bucks’ organization that they were considering including him in the deal.
According to Lillard himself, Milwaukee became serious players in trade talks with the Portland Trailblazers two weeks before the trade was done. In that time, no one in the Bucks organization informed Holiday that he might be moved.
It Is Okay to Be Excited for Damian Lillard AND Upset Over Losing Jrue Holiday
At the end of the day, Lillard is a superstar player who gives Milwaukee a better chance of winning another NBA Championship. He is under contract for four more years, making the likelihood of Giannis Antetokounmpo signing another extension even greater.
But Holiday is going to be missed. On media day, Giannis called him the best person he has ever met and that Holiday is his “brother for life.” Over the summer, Holiday stood up in Brook Lopez’s wedding.
But to get someone great, like Lillard, someone else great must be given up. In this case, it was Holiday.
Could the Bucks have made him aware of trade talks prior to actually trading him? Absolutely! Should they have? Well, if one were to ask Lauren Holiday, she would have said yes. While it is easy to point out the business reasons for why they did not (Giannis was not informed either), it is hard to disagree with Mrs. Holiday’s point about respecting players and their families as human beings.
The reality of business is a harsh one. One could say, “That’s just the world we live in.” But her point is that it does not have to be that way.
Informing Holiday of a possible trade would not have changed the outcome, but it would have given himself and his family more time to process, grieve, and say their good byes. They were robbed of those opportunities.
And that sucks.
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1 Comment
Did he run it past the Milwaukee Bucks before he announced on a podcast that he was retiring at the end of current contract?