ESPN NBA Analyst Deems Bucks' Damian Lillard Trade a Complete Disaster

Lillard was waved by Milwaukee on Tuesday.

Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard in 2025. / Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

The Milwaukee Bucks were surely hoping to get more out of Damian Lillard after landing him in a high-profile trade in 2023. A dream 1-2 combination with Giannis Antetokounmpo never truly materialized or bore significant fruit and any progress was wiped away when the veteran sharpshooter suffered a torn Achilles.

The organization made the somewhat surprising move to waive Lillard on Tuesday and used the freed-up money to land Myles Turner. Which means all Milwaukee has to show for their bold move to land Lillard is two consecutive first-round playoff exit.

That's reason enough to deem it a bad trade, but ESPN's Tim McMahon provided even more context on just how big of a failure it turned out to be.

"This is a desperation move and it's an admission that the Damian Lillard trade was a complete disaster," McMahon said on Get Up.

"The Damian Lillard trade was a complete disaster." 😳

—@espn_macmahon on the Bucks having to pay Lillard while not possessing all of their first round picks 😅 pic.twitter.com/k6haOZbizN

— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) July 2, 2025

"You go all-in on a superstar like that to keep Giannis happy," he continued. "You try to re-open that championship window. It doesn't produce a single playoff series win. And lok, they haven't paid off the picks on the Jrue Holiday trade, which by the way, did help deliver a championship. They flip Jrue Holiday for Damian Lillard, now they owe Dame $22.5 million for the next five years. They're out money, they're out picks. Myles Turner is nice fit, he's a nice player, he's a moderate upgrade over Brook Lopez but this does not vault the Bucks back into the championship contention picture."

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