Damian Lillard Breaks Silence on Moment He Learned Bucks Waived Him: It Was a Shocker

The Milwaukee Bucks shocked the basketball world when they waived superstar Damian Lillard to sign center Myles Turner. And it was a surprise for Lillard, too.

Lillard explained to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel how he found out Milwaukee had decided to waive him on July 1. 

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He had just had dinner with Bucks general manager Jon Horst and assistant general manager Milt Newton in Portland a few days prior where they told him they would support him through his recovery from a torn Achilles tendon. 

Then, on July 1, Lillard’s assistant knocked on his door to tell him to immediately call his agent Aaron Goodwin. As he went to call Goodwin, he saw the news on Instagram that the Bucks had waived him and signed Turner.

“I grabbed my phone to call him and I saw it on my phone,” Lillard said of the news he was waived. “My screen was on Instagram and when I grabbed my phone to call him, my screen unlocked and the thing at the top of my timeline, it was a double-sided screen with me and Myles Turner and under my name it said ‘waived’ and under his name it said ‘signed’ and he had a Bucks logo by his. I was like, Myles Turner to the Bucks? I had to be waived for him to be signed and that’s how I saw it.

“It definitely was a shocker,” Lillard said.

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Milwaukee received a lot of criticism for waiving Turner, especially because he had just sustained an injury that would sideline him for all of next season. 

Since then, the Bucks said the decision was difficult to make but they are willing to do anything to keep Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee. By waiving Lillard, the Bucks were able to clear enough cap space to sign Turner and bolster their roster for next season. 

Although the decision was controversial, it ended up working out in Lillard’s favor. He was able to sign a three-year deal with the Portland Trail Blazers, which was the team he spent the first 11 seasons of his career with.

Lillard had already purchased a home in Portland, so the move to the Trail Blazers will allow him to be closer to his family. It is likely Lillard ends his career in the Pacific Northwest.

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