1 positive, 1 negative of Damian Lillard-Bucks trade for Indiana Pacers

1 positive, 1 negative of Damian Lillard-Bucks trade for Indiana Pacers: Negative – Division rival gets stronger

Throughout the summer, all of the rumored trade destinations for Damian Lillard were in the Eastern Conference. However, very few of them were in the Central Division.

Lillard’s primary target, the Miami Heat, are in the Southeast Division, while the distant secondary target, the Toronto Raptors, are part of the Atlantic Division. However, with Lillard eventually being sent to the Bucks, the Indiana Pacers’ Central Division rival has gotten even stronger than before.

Of course, with Milwaukee and Indiana being division rivals, they will face each other four times this upcoming season, with the first matchup being on October 9 – the ninth game of the regular season.

While Indy already didn’t fare too well against Milwaukee without Lillard, earning just one win in their last eight matchups, lord knows how the Bucks are going to treat the Pacers with Lillard on the squad.

Of course, Milwaukee and Indiana are in different stages of team building, with the Bucks’ acquisition of Lillard potentially being the final move to get them closer to a championship and the Pacers looking to sneak into the playoffs for the first time since 2020, it is still noteworthy when a division rival gets stronger, and all we can do as fans is hope the Pacers can keep up with the Bucks new firepower.