Barb Caffrey's Blog

Folks, when the Milwaukee Bucks waived All-Star guard Damian Lillard, I was furious and said so at the time. Lillard is a class act, someone who brought tireless energy and a will to win every single night. He worked hard to return from a blood clot in his leg — something that often sidelines players in all sports for far longer (even taking them out of entire seasons) — coming back in time for the playoffs. Then, because life can be cruel sometimes, he tore his Achilles tendon during the playoffs.

Because Lillard wasn’t likely to play at all this season, the Bucks waived him and “stretched” his contract over a period of years. This was a scenario no one had expected. Lillard wasn’t told before it happened, either, which I thought particularly egregious…anyway, Lillard landed on his feet, signing with the Portland Trail Blazers (where he started his career and played eleven years before being traded to the Bucks), and he just returned to Milwaukee with Portland, as the Trailblazers played the Bucks last night (and beat the Bucks, too).

Lillard can’t play right now, though he is rehabbing and he can take parts in some of the warmups and such. In that, he’s like Bucks star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is also injured right now. The Bucks players and coaches were happy to see Lillard, too, as they knew how good of a person he was, and how cruel the National Basketball Association (NBA) can be as a business sometimes.

But their warm welcome was dwarfed by the thunderous ovation Lillard received from the Bucks fans.

You know how I said before that I was incredibly disappointed in the Bucks front office for waiving and stretching Lillard’s contract? I still am. But I am incredibly heartened by the Bucks fans, who really liked Lillard (for good reasons), and who did not like this “NBA business move” as it seemed to dump on a quality guy who’d done everything he possibly could to win with the Bucks, including coming back quickly from that blood clot in his leg, changing his own game to play more defense, get more assists, and shoot less often (though with the excellent accuracy and ability he’d always shown as a Trailblazer in Portland). The Bucks fans recognized this. And they wanted Lillard to know that the two years he spent in Milwaukee were memorable.

Thus, the ovation.

I am pleased, mind you, that the Bucks came up with the video tribute to Lillard (they don’t always remember to do this, as they completely forgot when former coach Mike “Bud” Budenholzer returned with his then-team the Phoenix Suns, and Bud won a championship with the Bucks in 2021). That shows class, and also shows what I expect out of the Bucks: respect for a true winner, someone who gave it his all, and who just wanted the best out of life.

Lillard may be better off rehabbing in Portland, mind you. His kids are there, and they are a joy and a delight to him (which is as it should be). He can take them to school more often, pick them up, take ’em to doctor appointments, see them in recitals or anything else they may be doing…all of that is an unexpected blessing, as far as I’m concerned, from the Bucks classless and shoddy act in the summer.

“But what about Myles Turner?” you might be asking. “They waived Lillard’s contract to get him. Don’t you like at least that part of it?”

I have nothing bad to say about Myles Turner. He’s done fine as a Buck so far.

But he is not Damian Lillard. And to get Turner, who is of course blameless as it wasn’t up to him as to what the Bucks front office staff did, the Bucks had to (excuse me) crap all over Lillard despite Lillard having put his all into his two years as a Buck.

I hope that Damian Lillard knows, now if not sooner, that most Bucks fans did not like what the Bucks front office did. That ovation should tell him, if nothing else, that we Bucks fans saw Lillard and appreciated his classiness and hard work.

As it’s nearly Thanksgiving, I can honestly give thanks that the Bucks fans gave Lillard this huge ovation. Because he deserved it. He is worthy of it. And I’ll never forget this heartwarming act, because it’s good to know that many other fans feel as I did, and still do.