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The Milwaukee Bucks made the shocking move to waive Damian Lillard in order to create cap space so they could sign Myles Turner to a four-year deal worth $107 million.
It was a move that stunned fans from both the Pacers and the Bucks. The rest of the NBA didn’t seem to like the move as much as the Bucks did, even though they took the starting center away from a hated rival.
Milwaukee will now pay Lillard over $20 million over the next five years to have him not play on their team, and one NBA insider hates the move.
Read more: Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo Reacts to Shocking Roster Moves
While speaking on First Take, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst killed the Bucks for making the decision to waive Lillard for Turner.
“This is mortgaging your mortgage to buy a sports car.”@WindhorstESPN weighs in on the Bucks waiving Damian Lillard to acquire Myles Turner 👀 pic.twitter.com/2hMjzCJUag
— First Take (@FirstTake) July 1, 2025
“This is mortgaging your mortgage to buy a sports car. I guess if you get the girl, which is Giannis in this case, maybe it’s worth it…the largest buyout in the history of the NBA is $31 million, and if I gave you 600 hundred guesses, you wouldn’t get it…that was $31 million. This is $113 million that the Bucks are now going to put on their cap over the next five years.”
This has less to do with signing Turner than it does with the method that they used in order to create the space to sign him in the first place. That’s a large dead cap number for the next five years.
If things don’t work out in the next couple of years, this could be an absolute disaster from a cap space standpoint for the Bucks.
More Bucks news: Myles Turner Move Could Become Long-Term Problem for the Bucks
The Bucks could have an issue with building their team in the next few years because of the dead cap. Turner’s game should age gracefully, but it’s the fact that they had to do this in order to make it work is the issue.
Unless the Bucks make the Finals in either of the next two seasons, this move might handicap them for years to come. It could be looked at as a massive panic move.
More Milwaukee Bucks news: Bucks Interested in Future Hall of Fame Point Guard as Damian Lillard Replacement: Report
Damian Lillard Breaks Silence on Bucks Exit With Cryptic Post About Giannis Antetokounmpo
For more news and notes on the Milwaukee Bucks, visit Milwaukee Bucks on SI.
