The long-awaited trade of All-NBA point guard, Damian Lillard has finally come to an end as a three-team trade was struck between the Portland Trailblazers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Phoenix Suns that has sent Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks.
In full the trade sends Lillard to Milwaukee, Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton, and two future first-round picks to Portland, and Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little, and Keon Johnson to the Suns.
The only piece in the trade to keep an eye on now is Jrue Holiday who the Blazers are looking to continue moving on from as they look to get even younger.
Although Dame initially stated that he wanted to play for the Miami Heat and the Heat only, he quickly took to social media with himself in a Bucks jersey ultimately accepting the trade.
Following the deal, NBA oddsmakers were quick to adjust the odds for all teams involved including Miami. With the consensus around the league being that Lillard eventually was going to the Heat, they opened their preseason odds at 1000. Now that he is not with Miami, those odds have doubled to 2000 which are still an impressive 9th shortest on the odds board.
PPG | RPG | APG | TS% |
---|---|---|---|
32.2 | 4.8 | 7.3 | 64.5 |
As for Milwaukee, they have jumped Phoenix as the clear cut favorite to win the NBA Finals now at 390 odds after opening at 700.
Looking at Phoenix, their odds already took a huge turn after acquiring Bradley Beal earlier in the offseason going from 800 to 600. Now after being involved in the Lillard trade, they’ve taken a small step back to 650.
And now for the biggest movement of them all, Portland opened the preseason odds at 9000 with the intention that Lillard was not going to remain with the team, their odds fell way down to an abysmal 25000.
BEFORE TRADE | AFTER TRADE |
---|---|
+800 | +650 |
Other than their odds to win the NBA Finals, Milwaukee has launched up to the shortest odds to win the Eastern Conference Finals as well coming down to 185 from 280.
Looking at the West, Phoenix has actually come down on their Western Conference Finals odds a bit to 350 from 375 which are the second shortest only behind the defending champions Denver Nuggets.
When the odds for the exact finals matchup do go live, the main matchup to watch for is between the Bucks and Suns as they are sure to open towards the top of the odds board.
2023 NBA title odds: Damian Lillard trade makes Bucks championship favorites https://t.co/pg0tMzjHlq pic.twitter.com/mluIVlIcgI
— New York Post (@nypost) September 27, 2023
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| Title: Post Damian Lillard Trade Odds Update
| Author: Sam Profeta
| Date: Oct 3rd, 2023