Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Prince J. Grimes.
This is what happens when you sit on your hands.
The Miami Heat dared the Portland Trail Blazers to find a better deal for Damian Lillard, and they did it!
According to multiple reports, Portland is sending Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks, and wow. This was a stunning development, even if we should have seen it coming.
All summer, all we heard about was Lillard wanting to play for the Heat, and the Heat wanting Lillard. And even last week, when rumors started trickling out of other teams getting involved, Milwaukee just wasn’t mentioned a lot, if at all. Now, we’re getting a Lillard-Giannis Antetokounmpo tandem instead of Lillard-Jimmy Butler, and whew, that is dynamic.
It’s also probably a tough pill to swallow for the Heat, who had a Top 75 player right there, basically begging them to come and get him, and they couldn’t make it happen. I guess they misread the situation, expecting Portland to just fold and take whatever they were offering. At least, that’s my read on the situation.
This, of course, is all speculation. We don’t actually know what Miami offered. But there seemed to be mutual interest between the sides, and deductive reasoning tells us if the Heat offered more, Portland would have accepted it — unless the Blazers are just very spiteful. The Bucks, though, wasted no time jumping in the Lillard sweepstakes to add some scoring punch to their lineup and keep him away from a conference foe in the process. More importantly, the trade might make their MVP happier and more likely to stick around after he hinted at wanting to play with Lillard.
Not all is lost for the Heat, though. The Trail Blazers landed Jrue Holiday in the three-team deal, but they aren’t likely to keep the veteran guard on their rebuilding roster for long. Wojnarowski said the Heat could be among the teams interested in Holiday, and that makes a ton of sense after Miami just missed out on Lillard. Holiday wouldn’t provide the same scoring punch, but he’s still capable of putting the ball in the hoop while serving as a much superior perimeter defender.
Holiday can absolutely help the Heat, and they need it. After whiffing on Lillard, their title odds have dropped from +1000 to +3000 at BetMGM. And Holiday can likely be had for less than what Miami was probably offering for Lillard. That doesn’t mean they can sit on their hands again, though. Plenty of teams should have interest in the former All-Star. If there’s anything Miami should take from the Lillard trade, it’s that they need to strike before one of those teams does.
Damian Lillard is a Milwaukee Buck
It’s Dame Time in Milwaukee, and the For The Win team has you covered on the blockbuster NBA deal.
- Mike Sykes has all the winners and losers (did I mention the Heat?) from this trade.
- Speaking of the Heat, Jimmy Butler was saltyyyy after Miami failed to get Lillard. Caroline Darney has more.
- Our Robert Zeglinski whipped up trade grades, and as you can imagine, the Bucks did quite well.
- Bryan Kalbrosky gives us a look at the Bucks new potential starting lineup with Lillard. And here’s the Suns’ new potential lineup after trading Deandre Ayton as part of the deal.
- BetFTW’s Ben Fawkes spoke with oddsmakers about what the trade means, and one thinks Milwaukee could have “the best 1-2 punch in the NBA.”
- And like the rest of us, oddsmakers didn’t see this deal coming, as Cory Woodroof wrote.
- NBA players didn’t either… and they were just as shook. Here’s Megan Hall with all the best reaction from around the league.
- Oh, Lillard had something to say too.
Ben Simmons is back … again
Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.
On Tuesday, Brooklyn Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn said Ben Simmons is playing five-on-five basketball again, with no restrictions, and he should be ready for the start of training camp.
It was refreshing to hear about a player who’s had a tumultuous last couple of years, to say the least, filled with injuries, mental health hurdles and other issues along his journey from the Philadelphia 76ers to Brooklyn.
Each step of the way, as it seemed Simmons was ready to consistently contribute to a team again, it was easy to get excited over the potential of what a 6-foot-10 point-forward and defensive specialist with three All-Star appearances could bring to a lineup. After he was traded for James Harden during the 2021-2022 season, I was certain he’d help Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving make a deep playoff run. But the playoffs came and went without him ever touching the floor.
Then, at the start of the 2022-23 season, it again seemed like he’d be a great fit on the Nets, but he completely stunk it up through 42 games before injuries robbed him of finishing the year. Now, after seeing this start and stop happen a few times, I’m resigned to the wait-and-see approach, and I think everyone else should be too.
I’m a firm believer in Simmons’ talent and always have been, since his days at LSU. But the added pressure from expectations to perform at a high level haven’t helped him or us. It’s only led to a bunch of letdowns, and it’s honestly been sad more than anything. So I’m done expecting him to be good. I just want to see the dude hoop. Stay on the court for longer than a few games at a time.
If he can do just that for a season, it’s a win. And if he’s actually good, oh that’s an added bonus I’ll absolutely take.
Shootaround
— A ranking of the 23 best NBA players under 23 years old
— Sykes: Expansion is coming to the WNBA whether the league is ready for it or not.
— Jimmy Butler couldn’t believe it cost him $145 to gas up his Bugatti
And that’s it from me, y’all. Catch you next week.