“He was the middle man” - Damian Lillard discusses how Pat Connaughton helped his landing in Milwaukee

Pat was already on the move for the Damian Lillard-Giannis Antetokounmpo tandem in Milwaukee.

© Michael McLoone-USA TODAY Sports

Everyone lost their minds when Damian Lillard got shipped by the Portland Trail Blazers to the Milwaukee Bucks. Considering that the Miami Heat were pegged as the prime landing spot for the superstar all offseason long, it was a massive shocker that the Bucks came out of nowhere and emerged victorious in the intense Lillard sweepstakes.

But in the perspective of Pat Connaughton, the groundbreaking successful move made by Milwaukee was just in line with his plans.

Pat on the move

Upon joining the "Knuckleheads" podcast hosted by former NBA players Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles, Lillard revealed that it was Pat Connaughton who served as the "middle man" between his and Giannis Antetokounmpo's eventual partnership in Milwaukee.

Connaughton played his first three seasons as a teammate of Lillard in the Blazers. In 2018, the athletic swingman decided to join the emerging Bucks team that features future MVP Antetokounmpo.

From there, Connaughton made a group chat in which Antetokounmpo and Lillard are exclusively in and have closely discussed ideas of teaming up.

"It was a stretch like before they win [a title], [Giannis Antetokounmpo] was trying to get me to Milwaukee, and I was trying to tell him, 'No, you come to Portland.' And then Pat Connaughton, who was my rookie in Portland, and then he ended up signing with Milwaukee, he was like the middle man," Lillard said on the podcast's teaser. 

"So we was in the group chat, all three of us, [Antetokuonmpo was] like 'Pat, tell him to come here.' He [was] like, 'Pat, no, tell Dame, he needs to come to Milwaukee.'"

And who would have thought that after years of their recruitment pitch, these playful messages have materialized into reality as now both Antetokounmpo and Lillard have joined forces to form a strong one-two punch in Milwaukee.

All in towards the ultimate goal

Shortly after Lillard landed in Milwaukee as a Buck, Antetokounmpo quickly approached him and set things straight about the business that they needed to accomplish with their new dynamic pairing.

Dame further revealed that he and Giannis went for a sit-down talk which reached an hour, discussing their respective plays and ultimate goals for themselves.

"As soon as I got there, Giannis was walking in two minutes later," he said. "And I was sitting there, talking about some physical stuff, and he just walked in the office, and he was like, 'Can I just talk to him? Can I just talk to Dame for five minutes?' And they was like, 'Yeah, sure!'. As they walked out, we sat there for like an hour, just talking about like, 'This is what we need to do,' 'This is what I'm about.' Like, it was that type of conversation."

“He was trying to get me to go to Milwaukee, and I was trying to tell him, ‘No, you come to Portland.’”@Dame_Lillard sits down with @Qrich and @21Blackking to discuss his trade to the @Bucks, his first conversation with @Giannis_An34 and more.

Tap in tomorrow!⌚️ pic.twitter.com/sgWoJoNKSU

— The Players' Tribune (@PlayersTribune) November 20, 2023

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