Bucks beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 97-81 on Tuesday night in the Cup final. “But to have some team success and win something and be the last team standing in this tournament, it feels great.”

Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo stood side-by-side during the postgame celebration after the NBA Cup final. Antetokounmpo was holding the MVP trophy. Lillard was holding the bigger trophy.

And it was a moment that Lillard had waited a long time to savor.

He’s been a rookie of the year, a 3-point contest champion, an All-Star MVP, even a member of the league’s 75th anniversary team. And while his biggest goal is still winning an NBA championship, the significance of winning the NBA Cup was not lost on the 13-year veteran.

“People wanted to put me with Giannis and think it was just going to be perfect right away because we’ve both been high-level players,” Lillard said. “But I come from a situation where I’ve always had the ball, and he’s had a decade of him having the ball and playing a certain way.

“I think time is the No. 1 thing,” he added. “It just took time for us to get to know each other better as people. You can’t just trust somebody that you’re paired with when you don’t really know who they are, how they think and how they operate. So, I think time has helped us.”

Time has helped Lillard as well.

He averaged 24.3 points and 7 assists per game last year. Those are all-world numbers for just about anyone. He didn’t think much of how he played, though, and he never got to the point of feeling totally comfortable in a new role, a new place, with a new team.