The Celtics were one of several teams linked to Damian Lillard before the point guard elected to sign with the Blazers this week. The three-year deal worth $42 million led to a surprise reunion in Portland two years after he requested a trade out of the northwest.
Before that deal came to fruition though, the Celtics were one of the teams that Lillard closely looked at according to Shams Charania of ESPN.com
“Over a dozen teams made minimum and mid-level exception offers to Dame,” Charania said this week on NBA Today.” “Two teams in particular, I’m told, that Damian Lillard really considered: Celtics and the Timberwolves. He held calls with both teams at different points, but to be in Portland, back home with his three young kids, was by far the most important factor in his return to the Trail Blazers.”
Jayson Tatum was reportedly taking part in Boston’s recruiting efforts to entice Lillard to come to Boston amid his own recovery from a torn Achilles. Lillard is expected to miss most of the 2025-26 campaign as he recovers from an Achilles tear suffered in May. The Bucks elected to stretch and waive the final two years of Lillard’s deal, allowing the former All-Star to become a free agent while still receiving his full max salary ($56 million) from Milwaukee.
The biggest disadvantage the Celtics had against the Blazers beyond geography came from a financial standpoint. Boston is sitting just around the second apron so the most they would have been able to offer Lillard was the taxpayer midlevel exception ($5.9 million). Boston would have also needed to trim some salary off the roster this year in order to do that since they currently sit just above the second apron. In contrast, the Blazers had access to the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($14 million), which allowed Lillard to net $70 million combined next season from the Bucks and Blazers.
Lillard will spend a season rehabbing in Portland before he joins a deep backcourt in Portland that includes Jrue Holiday, Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe.
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