Damian Lillard ending up in Milwaukee WAS sudden for these following the NBA information cycle on the time, contemplating there was intensive reporting claiming Lillard would solely play for Miami.
But in some unspecified time in the future, Dame warmed to the concept of enjoying for the Bucks, and it turns on the market was an sudden X-Factor serving to promote Lillard on Milwaukee. That X-Factor was Pat Connaughton.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had lengthy tried to persuade Lillard to affix the Bucks, however Lillard has at all times responded by suggesting Giannis be part of him in Portland as a substitute.
This is the place Connaughton got here in, in line with Lillard.
“Pat Connaughton, who’s on our team now, was my rook in Portland,” he said on ‘Knuckleheads’, a podcast hosted by former NBA gamers Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles.
“And then he ended up signing with Milwaukee. So when he was here, he was like the middleman. So we was in the group chat … [Giannis would say] like ‘Pat, tell him to come here’. He like, ‘Pat, no, tell Dame, he need to come to Milwaukee’. So like it was like ongoing like that.”
In the tip, Connaughton’s work paid off, with Lillard traded to Milwaukee in September as a part of a blockbuster three-team deal that additionally concerned the Phoenix Suns.
After an up-and-down begin to the season for the Bucks, Lillard has received the final seven video games he’s performed in, with Milwaukee shedding the 2 video games he lately missed.
The Bucks are at the moment 9-4, sitting third within the East.
LISTEN: How Damian Lillard Tricked Everyone to Get Exactly What He Wanted