Speaking with the media over this year’s All-Star break, NBA megastar Giannis Antetokounmpo doubled down on his faith in the Bucks this season. Speaking with Eurohoops, Giannis promised a championship for his team under his new partnership with Damian Lillard.
“We traded Jrue Holiday, I won’t say I didn’t like it because Damian Lillard is now my teammate and with him we’re going to win the championship, but my best friend leaving, who was living two minutes away from me is tough,” said Antetokounmpo. “We won the championship and we cried together.”
It’s no secret that Giannis shared a close bond with Jrue Holiday and he was the perfect sidekick for him on the court during their three-year run together. Over 193 games, Holiday was among the Bucks’ most steady players with averages of 18.5 points, 6.8 assists, and 1.5 steals per game on 49% shooting. He set the tone for them defensively and was their most valuable perimeter defender in the backcourt.
But after the Bucks suffered a brutal first-round defeat last postseason, in which Holiday performed well below expectations, the team decided to move in a new direction and pursue a higher-profile star by the name of Damian Lillard.
On the surface, a Lillard and Giannis duo seems like a match made in heaven but their time together has been anything but easygoing. In fact, since Lillard’s arrival in September, it’s been nothing but chaos for the Bucks who are now down to third in the East standings after a 3-7 stretch.
By all accounts, it’s getting desperate in Milwaukee and as the haters grow bold, Giannis is doing whatever he can to silence the noise and remind everyone that he’s still capable of winning when it matters. Unfortunately, for Damian Lillard, the jury is still out on when/if he will ever regain his prime shooting form.
A Rough Transition For Damian Lillard
The Bucks gave up a lot in the Lillard trade, including Holiday, a 2029 unprotected first-round pick, and two first-round pick swaps to the Portland Trail Blazers. Fearing Giannis’ looming extension talks at the time, it was a good move for the Bucks to secure their future and convince Giannis that they were all-in on winning a title.
As a Top 75 player ever and one of the best long-distance shooters in the league, it was always going to take that kind of package to full Lillard away from the Blazers. But now that he’s in a different uniform, things just haven’t been the same.
Off the court, as Lillard has struggled to adjust to a new team and main city, he’s been dealing with some major family drama that threatens to jeopardize his relationship with his former partner and their three kids, Damian, Kalii, and Kali.
On the court, he’s been having one of the worst stretches of his career. In 51 games this season, he’s averaging 24.6 points, 6.7 assists, and 4.1 rebounds on 42% shooting. Relatively speaking, his numbers are down across the board and he’s been showing no signs of life down the stretch of the season.
For now, Giannis still believes that Lillard is that guy and he has every confidence that they can accomplish great things together. But the early returns haven’t looked promising and the pressure is building by the day for this Bucks team to play up to their potential as one of the top teams in the league.
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