The Milwaukee Bucks had a disappointing end to their season after failing to get over the Indiana Pacers. While it’s true that they didn’t have Giannis Antetokounmpo suiting up in this year’s postseason, the Bucks still had a reliable star to count on in Damian Lillard.
The 2023-24 season hasn’t been easy for Dame. After spending most of his career in Portland, he decided to chase for the championship and wanted out of Rip City. While he didn’t want to end up in Milwaukee at first, he made do with what he got and played to the best of his ability.
The season turned out well for him in Milwaukee because they ended up as the third seed. However, the team’s loss to the Pacers in six games caused quite a stir, with one overreaction calling for Lillard to be shipped off to another team.
To make things worse, he got snubbed from being recognized as one of the league’s top 15 players when he put up solid enough stats to be included.
The NBA released the final results of the voting that decided which players would end up on the three All-NBA teams. While most of the players who got selected deserved their spots, it’s quite surprising to see one particular absence from the list:
The complete voting results for the 2023-24 Kia All-NBA Team: pic.twitter.com/KrG4Fjc9pW
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 22, 2024
Milwaukee Bucks fans would be the first to cry injustice over Lillard’s snub. It’s hard to believe that a player who averaged 24.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 7.0 assists while shooting 42.4% from the floor and 35.4% from deep at 33 years old is not worth an All-NBA vote.
Moreover, one can argue that players like DeMar DeRozan and Victor Wembanyama would have no business getting votes. Some may argue that Lillard’s place in the Bucks roster as the number two option hurt his chances, but that doesn’t justify Dame Time not getting any love from the press at all.
If there’s one thing Milwaukee fans can positively take from this, Lillard will likely use the snub as fuel to put up an even better performance for the team next year.
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