Damian Lillard Gets Brutally Honest About His Hesitancy After Joining Bucks

The star point guard got honest about joining the Bucks after being in Portland for most of his career.

Mar 13, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard (0) dribbles the ball against the Los Angeles Lakers in the first quarter at Fiserv Forum. The Bucks wore a small patch to honor former player Junior Bridgeman who passed away this week. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images / Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

The Milwaukee Bucks made the big move before last season to trade for Damian Lillard. It was a massive move that they made to increase their offensive ceiling.

Bringing Lillard in gives them a point guard who can score from anywhere on the court. While he's not as good defensively as Jrue Holiday, he is much more dangerous on offense.

Milwaukee took a big risk in trading for Lillard because he did not have the Bucks on the list of teams that he wanted to be traded to. They risked him not being happy and not playing well.

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Lillard had some hesitancy about joining Milwaukee when he first got traded. In the final episode of The Damian Lillard Story, he opened up about his move to the Bucks.

"It was some hesitance last season cause like, first of all, they don't, nobody, they don't know me like that. You know, to just come in and say 'I'm Dame Lillard, I'm gonna just have this type of presence here', anybody who's a true leader understands that you got to like, you got to allow people that room to like, trust you"

Lillard knew that he couldn't just come into Milwaukee and immediately take over the team. He was the man in Portland, but this is Giannis Antetokounmpo's team.

It took a little while for Lillard to get comfortable in his new city. He spent his entire career with one team before that, so it was definitely an adjustment for him.

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Now that it has been almost two full seasons, Lillard is clearly more comfortable with his role and his teammates. He looks like the old Damian Lillard again.

Of course, he has to make sure that he can stay healthy at the end of the season. He wasn't healthy going into the playoffs last year, and he missed some games in the first round of the playoffs.

This season, Lillard is averaging 25.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 7.2 assists per game.

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