The Milwaukee Bucks shocked the NBA world when they decided to part ways with Damian Lillard during free agency. The Los Angeles Lakers have reportedly wasted no time involving themselves in the sweepstakes for the services of the nine-time All-Star.
The Athletic reported, "Lillard received calls from several contending teams quickly after the news of his Bucks’ ending broke. ... The Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers are known to be among the many teams that would have interest in doing a deal sooner rather than later."
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) July 1, 2025
The thought process here from the Lakers is understandable. They could at a premier talent and, depending on what Lillard would be willing to settle for considering the Bucks are still paying him for multiple years, it could come at a fraction of his full value.
Luka Doncic has functioned well with a high-scoring guard previously. However, make no mistake about it, Lillard is no Kyrie Irving. This fit would not be what that one was.
Lillard concerns outweigh positives of potential free-agency addition
The elephant in the room revolves around the Achilles injury suffered by the former Bucks star. How much will Lillard have left in the tank after his recovery from one of basketball's worst ailments?
Even moving past that, there are on-court fit concerns with the idea of pairing Lillard alongside Doncic. The sharpshooting star may appear to be an interesting addition at first, but there are notable questions about how the playing styles would mesh.
Doncic and Irving were a duo that proved great enough to catapult the Dallas Mavericks to an NBA Finals appearance. However, one key element of Irving's game made the offensive system function a lot better there than it would in a hypothetical pairing of Lillard alongside the Lakers point guard.
Kyrie is a much better off-ball operator than Dame. The two guards are not particularly close in that department. Those gifts allowed Irving to not only thrive when asked to lead the offense, but comfortably mesh alongside a ball-dominant Doncic-led brand of basketball.
Then, there's the defensive end of the equation. Irving is far from a perfect defender. However, the former NBA champion is much more capable on that end than Lillard.
The Bucks went from a top five defensive unit in the 2022-23 season to ranking 19th in defensive rating (115.0) during Lillard's first season with the team in 2023-24. The Bucks only recovered to 12th in 2024-25 with a mark of 112.7.
Naturally, swapping out an elite defender like Jrue Holiday for an underwhelming presence on that end like Lillard was always going to provide a hit to that aspect. However, anyone who tuned into a Bucks game could find Lillard getting routinely beat by above average guards.
The Lakers are trying to patch up their problems on the defensive perimeter as it is. Lillard's questionable offensive fit, despite his obvious talent, is not worth the headache defensively that would come with the aging star.
Ultimately, the name value of Lillard exceeds the upside of this hypothetical union between him and the Lakers. Rob Pelinka should strongly weigh his options before having the former All-NBA guard put pen to paper.