Damian Lillard's Portland return has everyone mistaking 1 key detail

USA Today

2 days ago

Damian Lillard will return to the Portland Trail Blazers, which is wonderful news for the NBA star. But fans keep getting something very wrong.
Lillard, a nine-time NBA All-Star who played nine seasons for the Trail Blazers, will sign with Portland after his contract was waived and stretched by the Milwaukee Bucks. The 2013 NBA Rookie of the Year will recover from a torn Achilles tendon during his first year back with the team that drafted him. He is expected to miss the entirety of the campaign.
Any basketball fan from the past decade or so will remember all of the tremendous success that Lillard enjoyed in the Pacific Northwest before he was eventually traded to Milwaukee.
Ironically, he was traded for two-time NBA champion Jrue Holiday, who two years later is now also on the Trail Blazers.
Here is how Shams Charania described the situation on social media:
"Portland traded Damian Lillard for Jrue Holiday, Toumani Camara, assets in 2023 – then Holiday to Boston for Robert Williams III, Malcolm Brogdon, assets (one led to Deni Avdija).
Now, Blazers have Lillard and Holiday, plus Avdija, Williams, Camara, a 2029 first, two MIL swaps."
ESPN's digital version of the story also states that "Portland traded Lillard to the Bucks for Jrue Holiday, Toumani Camara, and assets" in 2023.
Others on social media have echoed similarly misinformed sentiments.
Those are fun summaries, of course, except that it mistakes a few crucial details. Let's review.
Indeed, the Trail Blazers got several assets back in exchange for Lillard. But it's worth emphasizing that Camara (who immediately looked like a steal for Portland) was actually acquired in a separate trade involving Jusuf Nurkić and Grayson Allen.
This independent transaction perhaps could have happened even if Lillard was never traded, especially considering Portland and Phoenix reportedly had mutual interest in an Ayton-Nurkić swap. Trail Blazers executive Joe Cronin had been "insisting" that Camara was included in the transaction, per The Athletic.
So below is a more accurate description of the initial deal:
Original deal in 2023 — Portland sent:
Original deal in 2023 — Portland received:
One year later, the Trail Blazers acquired Avdija for Brogdon as well as the 2024 first-rounder pick, a 2029 first-round pick, and two second-round picks.
So now, the trade expanded to look a bit more like this:
Update from 2024 — Portland sent:
Update from 2024 — Portland received:
As mentioned earlier, Portland's front office recently made a move to acquire Holiday.
So when including the free agency deals for Lillard and Ayton (who now plays for the Los Angeles Lakers), here is an updated reflection of what happened.
Update from 2025 — Portland sent out:
Update in 2025 — Portland received:
So let's spell that out as plainly as possible.
They essentially had two seasons without Lillard on loan and will get him back three years later when he is 36 years old coming back from a torn Achilles. They also sent out Simons, Nurkić, Johnson, Little, two-first round picks, and two-second round picks.
The Trail Blazers received two years of renting Ayton while also netting Holiday (who is now 35 years old), Williams, Camara, Avdija, a first-round pick, and two additional potential first-round pick swaps with Milwaukee.
The two years without Lillard also made Portland a lottery team, so they had better draft odds and came away with some exciting young players in Donovan Clingan and Yang Hansen. They may also have another lottery pick in 2026 considering how competitive it is in the Western Conference.
All things considered, this looks like some savvy maneuvering by Portland's front office. But it's important to get it all accurate.