“He said two things, which I love. The first one, he just said, ‘I can’t believe I’m here.’ Then the second one is ‘I’m not going out this way.’ I can guarantee you he won’t,” Doc Rivers had said with conviction back in April when Damian Lillard’s Achilles injury cast a shadow over his season. But as it turns out, that injury did mark the end of his Bucks stint. Though Lillard is far from finished—per Shams Charania, he “welcomed this change of scenery”—his exit from Milwaukee via the waive-and-stretch clause still stings. And if there’s one person who’ll feel that void the most, it’s Rivers, who made it clear just how much he valued Dame’s presence, even beyond the stat sheet.
While joining the NBA on ESPN crew during the Bucks-Nuggets Summer League clash, Doc Rivers didn’t dodge the emotional weight of losing Damian Lillard. Asked how a team regroups after such a tough departure, Rivers was honest yet grounded: “Well, you regroup. You know, obviously we’re signing Myles Turner. That’s a… the regroup part of it, but it’s still a human game, man.” For all the cold, calculated moves in today’s NBA, Rivers reminded everyone that behind every transaction, there are real people, real bonds—and real emotions that don’t just vanish when the business side takes over.
“You know, it’s funny. Um, Dame was he’s just a great dude. Forget the basketball part. Uh he’s done everything right throughout his career. Uh he’s done everything that you a — franchise can ask for a guy in if you’re trying to win. So, he did all the good stuff, you know, for us. And so, you know, obviously we weren’t going to have him this year, uh, coming up with the injury, but you don’t just lose the player, you lose the person” said Rivers. “And so that’s a tough loss for your franchise when you lose that.”
This is a developing story.
The post Doc Rivers Breaks Silence on Damian Lillard Exit Amid Lakers Rumors appeared first on EssentiallySports.
