With the recent passing of the National Basketball Association’s Media Day, the offseason has ended and the NBA season has begun.
This past offseason was characterized by veterans joining new teams. Three-time all-star Bradley Beal got traded to the Phoenix Suns after 11 years of playing with the Washington Wizards, and future hall-of-famer Chris Paul joined the Golden State Warriors to team up with the Splash Brothers, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
However, the biggest offseason story was Damian Lillard requesting a trade from the Portland Trail Blazers. Considered one of the most loyal NBA players to date, the seven-time all-star had spent all 11 seasons with the Blazers. Only winning four playoff series during his 11-year tenure, fans were shocked at the start of each year when Lillard would return to the Blazers and continue showing his dedication for the organization.
More surprisingly, when this year’s offseason began, Lillard requested a trade from the Trail Blazers and had only one destination in mind– the Miami Heat.
Throughout the entire offseason, trade offers between Portland and Miami would get leaked, each seeming more plausible than the last. The Trail Blazers’s general manager, Joe Cronin, would decline each offer, causing fans to question if Lillard would ever get traded.
Around two months ago, it was revealed that the Blazers were fielding offers from other organizations, leading to speculation that Lillard could end up somewhere other than Miami. More reports surfaced of potential trades with teams such as the New York Knicks, the Brooklyn Nets, and the Philadelphia 76ers each day.
All these trade rumors would be put to rest when, on September 27th, Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that Damian Lillard was involved in a three-team trade with the Phoenix Suns and his new home, the Milwaukee Bucks. The basketball world was in a frenzy as the almost four-month saga of where Damian Lillard would end up had come to an end. Damian Lillard would be playing with the Greek Freak Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The expectations for the Bucks are high this season, as Lillard and Antetokounmpo are coming off career-high averages of 32.2 and 31.1 points per game, respectively. All NBA fans will be keeping their eyes on the Bucks this season, watching to see if this duo can live up to its championship aspirations.
Marley Joseph is a first-year broadcast journalism major from Harlem, New York. Having a passion for writing, and being involved with minority groups at American, he was immediately drawn into writing for The BlackPrint.
