Bucks GM reveals hurdles of Damian Lillard’s expensive contract, fit next to Giannis Antetokounmpo forced trade for Myles Turner

The Milwaukee Bucks surprised the community earlier this month when they decided to waive Damian Lillard. The nine-time All-Star guard had a rough injury-plagued season, which was capped off with an Achilles tendon tear during the playoffs.

Given the severe nature of Lillard’s injury, he is expected to miss out the entire 2025-26 season. So, the Bucks took a gamble and waived their star guard to make the cap space necessary to bring in Myles Turner, the former Pacers center, in free agency.

However, many fans and critics viewed the decision as a risky one. Earlier this week, Bucks’ general manager Jon Horst sat down with The Athletic to talk about the franchise’s future vision going forward. During one segment of the interview, Horst told his end of the story regarding waiving Lillard.

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"We were dealing with a really big hurdle and complication that we had to figure out how to deal with now, and the now matters more than anything. Maximizing Giannis’ prime, our opportunities to win, I feel like that’s our responsibility always. So it was really a now versus future decision," Horst said.

Horst explained that the benefits of waiving Damian Lillard far outweigh the decision's risk. He revealed that even though they are going to have $22.5 million dead money on their books for the next five years, having the cap space to sign suitable players to play alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo is a bigger priority.

The Bucks have decided to split the $113 million remaining on Lillard's contract and pay him the money over five years. This decision works well for the nine-time All-Star as well. He gets the money he is owed over the decided tenure, gets a season off to fully recover without the pressure to get back on the court as soon as he can and, ultimately, he gets to choose where he wants to play for the first time in his career.

Bucks GM reveals the game plan for Milwaukee in the upcoming season

The Milwaukee Bucks won the second championship in their franchise history in 2021 with Giannis Antetokounmpo leading the way for the franchise. However, Milwaukee has failed to recreate that magic for a second time as they suffered repeated first-round exits in the playoffs since their championship run.

However, it looks like the 2021 champions are getting back to their roots next season. In another segment of his interview with The Athletic, Horst said Doc Rivers plans to revive the Bucks' 2021 championship formula with a similar lineup and tactics.

He revealed that the front office is trying to acquire players who can shoot 3-point shots in volume and with high accuracy. They plan to put the Greek Freak back in the point forward role and let him run the show.

"Putting him [Giannis Antetokounmpo] out there with a bunch of shooters and ball movers and let him just dominate. You stop him, he passes it. You don’t, he dunks it. And I feel like we’ve got a number of those guys," Horst said.

Milwaukee had a rough run last season, ending their run as fifth in the East standings with a 48-34 record. The Pacers then eliminated them in the postseason's first round with a 4-1 series score.

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About the author

Avi Shravan

Avi Shravan's first year of college was the year he discovered his passion for basketball and the NBA. He has been an ardent fan of the sport ever since, from waking up early to cover games to watching pundit discussions, he does it all.

Avi is a big fan of Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks and Anthony Edwards from the Minnesota Timberwolves and firmly believes that the young star is the next big thing in the NBA.

Avi graduated in Mass Communication and Journalism, further enhancing his skills as a journalist and a writer. In his spare time when he is not writing, you can find him playing video games, watching anime, or reading a book he randomly picked at a bookstore.

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