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• Milwaukee Bucks trade for All-Star Damian Lillard

  Damian Lillard finally has a new team, though it's not the one the NBA world had been expecting.

  The Portland Trail Blazers have agreed to send their franchise icon to the Milwaukee Bucks in a blockbuster three-team trade that also involves fellow star players Jrue Holiday and Deandre Ayton, ESPN reported Wednesday.

  Portland will receive Holiday from the Bucks and Ayton and rookie Toumani Camara from the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Lillard, a seven-time All-Star who requested a trade this summer with the Trail Blazers in a rebuild.

  The Blazers will also get Milwaukee's unprotected 2029 first-round pick as well as the right to swap first-round selections with the Bucks in 2028 and 2030.

  Phoenix will receive veteran center Jusuf Nurkic and forwards Nassir Little and Keon Johnson from Portland, as well as guard Grayson Allen from Milwaukee.

  Lillard had expressed a preference to be dealt to the Miami Heat, but the Blazers were unable to work out a trade to his desired destination that would satisfy their requirements for multiple draft picks and young players to add to their young core of rookie point guard Scoot Henderson and second-year wing Shaedon Sharpe.

  The 33-year-old will instead be joining the team that finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference last season, but was dealt a stunning loss by the eighth-seeded Heat in the first round of the playoffs.

  Lillard joins two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, three-time All-Star Khris Middleton and first team All-Defensive Team centre Brook Lopez as the nucleus of a Bucks squad that will be considered one of the favourites in the East after finishing 58-24 last season.

  The trade, which is still awaiting league approval, also ends the 11-year tenure for arguably the most popular player in Trail Blazers' history. Lillard leaves Portland as the franchise's all-time leader in points (19,376) and three-point field goals (2,387), while his 5,151 assists rank second in team history.

  Lillard is also coming off a season in which he averaged a career-high 32.2 points per game and matched a personal best by shooting 46.3 per cent from the field, though a calf injury limited him to 58 games and he did not play after March 22.

  The Blazers' season didn't go nearly as well, as they finished 13th in the Western Conference with a 33-49 record. Lillard's displeasure over the team's poor finish, plus its decision to keep its first-round draft picks instead of moving them for a win-now player, prompted him to formally issue a trade request in July.

  Holiday, who earned a second career All-Star nod in 2022-23, could be on the move again soon, as ESPN reports Portland is expected to field trade offers for the 33-year-old point guard after taking Henderson with the No. 3 overall pick in this year's draft.

  The 25-year-old Ayton figures to remain part of the Blazers' long-range plans with three seasons left on a four-year, $133 million extension he signed in 2022. The No. 1 overall pick of the 2018 draft averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds per game last season and has averaged a double-double in each of his five NBA seasons.

  Phoenix gets a ready-made replacement for Ayton in Nurkic in addition to building needed depth to its star-laden core of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and offseason pickup Bradley Beal.

  Nurkic averaged 13.3 points and 9.1 rebounds while starting 52 games for Portland last season. 

• Philadelphia Eagles turn up the Hurts on Tampa Bay to remain unbeaten

  The Philadelphia Eagles maintained their perfect start to the season, proving too strong for previously unbeaten Tampa Bay.

  Quarterback Jalen Hurts led his team to a 25-11 win as he masterminded a game-deciding drive that lasted nine minutes.

  Hurts threw for 277 yards and scored a touchdown while running back D’Andre Swift racked up 130 yards on 16 carries.

  The Eagles are 3-0 for the second successive season and join Miami and San Francisco as the only unbeaten sides.

  Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow shook off a calf injury to throwing for 259 yards to beat the Los Angeles Rams 19-16 for the Bengals’ first win of the season.

  Burrow, who picked up the injury in pre-season and aggravated it against Baltimore last week, only returned to training on Thursday.

  Running back Joe Mixon’s 14-yard touchdown run in the third quarter gave the AFC North champions their first lead of the season.

  Logan Wilson intercepted Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford twice and he was sacked six times.

• Chargers wide receiver Williams out for season with torn ACL

  The Los Angeles Chargers will be without star wide receiver Mike Williams for the remainder of the 2023 season after an MRI confirmed he tore his ACL in Week 3, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported Monday.

  Williams went down in the third quarter of the Chargers’ 28-24 road win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday after recording seven catches for 121 yards and a touchdown.

  Williams entered Monday’s action ranked 12th in the league in receiving yards (249), tied for 12th in targets (26) and tied for 13th in catches (19).

  Since being selected seventh overall by the Chargers in the 2017 NFL Draft, Williams has 309 receptions for 4,806 yards and 31 touchdowns.

  Los Angeles lost its first two games by a combined five points before defeating Minnesota.

  The Chargers went 10-7 last season and returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2018. They led by 10 points after three quarters in the wild-card round at Jacksonville before the Jaguars rallied for a 31-30 victory.