🚨 DAMIAN LILLARD WAIVED❗Bucks Reload Around Giannis with Myles Turner | Brust & Strouf React

🚨 DAMIAN LILLARD WAIVED❗Bucks Reload Around Giannis with Myles Turner | Brust & Strouf React

There’s a lot of misinformation about the Bucks being a sec second apron second apron team limiting their ability to go out in free agency and get players to bolster up the roster because they traded Chris Middleton when they did. Nobody’s celebrating the fact that Kyle Koosma is still on the roster. But it opened up opportunity to build forward and they’re building forward. I miss Drew Holiday, right? It was a great run, but at this point, they need to the the the only missing link here right now for the Bucks is a point guard. Bingo.
They need a point guard. But but this is exactly what you want if you’re a Bucks fan. Excitement in free agency. Cuz if Bucks fans are feeling this excitement, Giannis is feeling that excitement. And for all the times we’ve laughed at the yonsense that’s been going on all around every TV station, every stupid Twitter account that’s trying to click farm and get engagement. It’s done. It’s absolutely done. Giannis is a Milwaukee Buck. John Horst continues to swing. You got to give some credit to John Horst because everyone had doubts the extended John Horst. I I was one of them. I’m not going to lie. I was like extending John Horst. I’ve never seen him have to rebuild, right? He was in a spot where he did the trade in the middle of the season last year and opened up opportunities to make moves to rebuild a roster with Giannis for this next iteration of hopefully what is longer than two years left on his contract. But proving to him, we’re going to do everything to provide you what you need to win another championship, which you made very clear on the finale show with his brother that it is your next goal in your NBA career. That’s Ben, Alex Duff with you reacting to all the Bucks free agency madness, free agency frenzy here on ESPN Wisconsin, the ESPN Wisconsin app and ESPN Milwaukee and ESPN Madison on YouTube. So, a couple takeaways from everything you just said there, Benny. Really good rant by you because I think it’s not a rant. That’s just information. A good rave by you, a good diet tribe,
yelling at anybody.
Um, I think you’re yelling at
Bucks fans in a positive way. I think it’s a good yell. It’s like a motivational yell. And he so here two things I want to take away from everything you just said. Number one, the John Horse piece. I think it’s so important to acknowledge everything he’s done during his tenure as a general manager of the Bucks. Sure, he hasn’t been the greatest drafter in the world. We can acknowledge that, but Sure. But I also think he should get a little bit of a pass with where they draft.
Correct. And I agree with that. Right. Late round picks are are hit and miss all the time. It’s just been more misses. And that’s okay because guess what? You have one of the greatest players in the world in Jiannisko if not the greatest player in the world and you are capitalizing on his prime. When you think back to the past, let’s go five seasons. Every swing that John Horst has taken is a swing that every general manager in professional sports would take, right? Think back to 2020 when they acquired Drew Holiday that ultimately wound up in a championship couple years ago when they swung at Damen Lillard. I think if you ask John Horse right now after he waves Damen Lillard and that era comes to an end after two seasons if he would take that swing again 10 out of times he’d say yes.
Yes.
And you just mentioned the mid-season trade. Chris Middleton goes out they bring in Kyle Koosma and sure it didn’t look super pretty down the stretch last season but to your point it was to get under the second apron and it was to allow for flexibility to make moves like they have in the last 18 hours. And so all credit goes to John Horse. The guy knows what the hell he’s doing. And I think anybody that had doubts about John Horse legitimacy as as a general manager in the NBA and his legitimacy in building a title contender, well, I think you could throw those doubts in the trash now because I think he’s proven he’s capable of that. The other part of this is we talked all offseason, you you reference it as Jonsense, which I love. when you reference it as Jonsense, we talked how do you make the pitch to Giannis and I think a lot of us were were fine with the pitch of well yeah you know it’s going to be a gap year. It’s going to be a year where Giannis can go out and have fun playing basketball and he can win his third MVP and he can put up career numbers.
Yeah, it sure was. That’s not how you treat a uh top five if not top two NBA player in the world.
Absolutely. And just like throwing your bad John Horst opinions in the trash. You could throw the Gapier conversations in the trash because this Miles Turner move signals that this team is back in title contention in the in a wideopen Eastern Conference, right? No Jason Tatum, no Tyresese Hallebertton, obviously no Damen Lillard, but he’s going to spend the season rehabbing and then will be a true free agent next season. This is an open Eastern Conference. They’re still good teams, don’t get me wrong. Cleveland’s still going to be good. Boston will still be good even without Jason Tatum. Orlando’s geared up for a legitimate push.
I like what the Hawks have done.
I also like what the Hawks have done. Good point by you. Uh but I think the Bucks have now catapulted themselves right back into the title contention conversation, which is huge because I think 18 hours ago, even we were still open to the idea that this could be a quote unquote gap year. And I’m glad you mentioned what this means for the landscape of the overall NBA and specifically the Eastern Conference, right? Because a lot of the times that we looked at all right well Tatum and Hallebertton the Pacers who went to back-to-back Eastern Conference finals don’t have Hallebertton and have just let go of a piece who walked who they didn’t obviously sign who had been there for 10 years. Great coach and Rick Carile but there’s no way with how they’re constructed that they can replicate what they’ve done the last two seasons. And part of the reason why is when your best player who’s not a Giannis on dempo type in Tyrese Hallebertton goes down, you just don’t have enough horses to continue to do what you’ve done. So you can I don’t want to say eliminate. I mean it’s still a very wide open East and free agency isn’t done. We haven’t even mentioned the fact that Pat Conetan was traded. Pat Coneton was traded for a player that is based. They’re saving $1.3 million on the player they traded for that I’mma leave his name for you,
Mitch.
Who’s going back over to Europe? It’s essentially an open roster spot for the Bucks to continue to try and build with pieces and offers that they have to Ryan Holland that they have a qualifying offer out there for. I mean, when you think about the off season and you think about like very early on it was Kevin Porter Jr. Torian Prince and um Gary Trent, you’re like, it very much felt like uhoh, the Bucks are just doing the run it back thing. Then you can look at now what they’ve added. They’ve added Miles Turner and they’ve added Gary Harris and they moved on from a bad contract and a player that was not going to contribute in Pat Coneton and opened up a roster spot to Phil. I don’t know if that’s going to be thin assump. We’ll see. We’ll see. But my overall point is they have put themselves in 2025 to be in the conversation not just like we we went from hey this team cannot be a playin team to this team needs to be a a three or four seed to give themselves a shot to make a run when you have the greatest player on the planet who I’m excited for. I have such high expectations for Giannis ba maybe unfair based off what he did the last portion of the season without Damen Lillard but he did it without Damen Lillard and a group in which they had a lot of pieces that they just added more pieces to this team for him to be more successful with a stretch five who’s a shooter who’s younger who can get up and down the court a little bit faster. We knock on your athletic ability. It’d be fun to watch you, Alex Dro, go a 40-yard dash against Brook Lopez because he moves.
I think I might have that one.
No, I don’t think you do. But I just want to point out like he’s aging, but they got younger there. Gary Harris, a good refresh, reset. We saw Gary Trenton, what he was able to do. They added shooters around him and this feels like a Giannis type season where he can not put the team on his back but simply show each and every year how he’s able to adapt to whatever team he has and continue to show his greatness. It’s absolutely ridiculous. Even Even when I filmed with our great ESPN Milwaukee correspondent of social media, Madison Hayes,
correspondent of social media. Yeah. I mean, it all works. Yeah, all I was mentioning is you move on from Dame and if you’re Giannis, you have to be smiling. And then the Chris Haynes report came out and now everyone’s like, he’s not smiling. He’s get out of my face with this. Chris Haynes, who I respect, he’s a very, very wellrespected journalist, but he does have strong ties to Damen Lillard. And so this was the same conversation we had when Drew Holiday was traded. And everyone, you just said everyone would take the swing for Damen Lillard. 10 out of 10. hindsight, uh, throwing it in the garbage.
So, at the end of the day, Giannis is going to see the light, and I guarantee he already sees the light with what the Bucks have done to build a younger team with more shooters around him after moving on from Brook Lopez. The only player left from the 2021 championship after trading Patton is Bubb. And so again, this is about building a new core for Giannis to win a second championship.
Yes, it is. So let’s just take a look at the conflicting reports for a moment. So Chris Haynes, longtime senior NBA insider, tweeted this breaking. Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Tennako is not pleased with the team’s decision to wave Damen Lillard. League sources tell me it’s plural, so maybe more than Damian. Uh Sham Shirani, however, wrote this in his ESPN.com article about Miles Turner joining the Bucks. Turner and Anakmpo both valued the opportunity to partner on the court during the process. Sources told ESPN, also plural, with Anakmpo considering his future and whether his best fit was with the Bucks moving forward, Milwaukee executives once again make a major move. It’s a source off, but here’s the fact of the matter. The fact of the matter is, I will say this, and I believe this in my heart of hearts, and I know Bucks fans do, too. Damen Lillard off an Achilles injury. He will not be playing in this season. And if you’re trying to win a championship, the best route for the Milwaukee Bucks is to unfortunately wave that money that you are waving Damen Lillard with down into the future so you can have an opportunity to go get somebody else because I don’t believe in my heart of hearts and with my basketball brain that coming back off of an Achilles injury at Damen Lord’s age, which would be the 2026 27 season, is a good idea to try and win a champion. ship with it’s just not so Horse had to make a business decision despite it probably hurting I don’t know this is different than baseball right no salary cap we talk about show Otani and the Dodgers how they defer all that money into the future this is the NBA it will likely hit their books it might put them in a spot that makes them a little bit more vulnerable but you had to do this to get a piece that you believe could help you as a team win a championship
Justin on the cardless talking text line 8009-3776. Your way into the show. We’ll hear from you in the 1:00 hour. 800990-3776. Justin says, “Would not be shocked if Giannis portrayed he was sad for his friend and teammate.” But obviously Chris spins that as as he’s mad. They are obsessed. Let it go on Giannis
for sure. Look, at the end of the day, we know that like if you’re Dame’s guy, you’re going to put that out.
Yeah. Right. Like, oh, Giannis is upset about Dame. Look at how valuable the person I’m close with. I got to have his back in this post.
And look, you could you could two things could be true, Ben, right? Obviously, you can feel sad that you didn’t accomplish what you wanted to with with one of the best players ever and Damen Lillard, right? Top 75 player of all time. But you can also be happy that the window is back open
and he’s not going to play next year,
right? It’s not like you’re missing out on on brilliant Damen Lillard play in 2526 because he’s not going to play.
Who knows what he looks like the year after coming off an Achilles in
another year older plus off the Achilles. Let’s not forget before this season he was a decoy in the year prior to the Indiana Pacers. Right. Absolutely. Yeah, you’re right about that. So I I I think all in all this is brilliant by the Milwaukee Bucks.
We can just say it. John Horst. John Horst. Yeah. And the entire front office because I I I mean when we were talking about this even yesterday, Ben, you know, we said, “Well, this is a really crucial two weeks, right? You’ve got to put at at the very least you have to put on the act that you’re putting together a championship contending team for Giannis if you want him to stay because this gap year conversation that we had plenty of and I think prior to the Miles Turner signing it was realistic that that’s what they were looking at right yesterday the first day of free agency all they did was run it back. It was it it felt like our gap year conversations were justified until horse started making these moves domino after domino from Miles Turner to Gary Harris to moving on from an expiring contract that you no one was going to trade for his expiring contract because he’s got zero value other than it being an expiring contract. But I still don’t know how you be like, “Hey, do you want Pat Coneton?” He put a 40 in game uh 82 when we sat the whole team.
Yeah, correct. Yeah. a careerhigh for Pat Coneton in his uh I mean his final regular season game as a Milwaukee Buck. He is out. Uh the name of the man in from Charlotte is Vicilia Michich.
He’s going overseas,
right? I mean it’s it’s just a move to get rid of to get rid of a salary. You save uh a little over a million dollars and you open up a roster spot for more opportunity to build around Y.
You’re calling a shot. That’s Stanis. I think so.
I think so too. I think so too.
I really do. Josh and Hartland on the carbless text line 800903776. Listes more with our friends from Carbless. Josh and Hartland says breaking Giannis not pleased with the report that he is not pleased. Very good.
Also, here’s why Thanasses would be a good thing. Because all the people that were watching Thanasses in the States on the courtside seats at Bucks Arena, I don’t think people understand and they need to really dig deeper to understand. Watch the documentary about Giannis and his journey. Not the Disney version, the actual documentary of Giannis’s version of how he got to the States and how he became a Milwaukee Buck. Those two are more connected than anybody in this world can maybe even understand because maybe you had an upbringing that was tough. times that by selling shoes and jewelry on the street to coming to America and building your life here. That connection with your older brother. I we’ve heard Jeff Teague on podcast. We’ve heard everybody on podcast. Giannis doesn’t know how to operate. When Thesis isn’t around, he plays better and he is locked in. From the moment he opens up his eyes, they are texting. They are making sure that the mindset is right. I don’t care what a minimum contract is for Thanassis, the value he brings. He’s also a phenomenal teammate.
Yeah, he’s the he’s the most important 12th guy in the NBA.
And I know people can laugh at that. There might be memes that go out when he resigns. I don’t care. I am telling you the value of the greatest player in the world having his brother around on a daily basis is important.

In a shocking move, the Milwaukee Bucks have waived Damian Lillard and brought in Myles Turner to reshape the roster around Giannis Antetokounmpo. Are the Bucks finally giving Giannis the younger core he needs to chase another ring? Ben Brust and Alex Strouf give their unfiltered reaction to this bold new direction.

Don’t miss their takes on:
🔥 Why Lillard’s exit might actually help
🔄 What Myles Turner brings to the Bucks
👀 What this means for Giannis’ future in Milwaukee

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