The Celtics Are Reportedly Interested In Damian Lillard And It's The Exact Type Of Low Risk Swing That Boston Should Be Taking

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Now that most of the "big" moves in free agency have happened through the first two days, from here on out it's now about the "margins" for most teams. There aren't a ton of roster spots open around the league, and there's even less available money (sorry restricted free agents!), so at this stage of the summer, you're mostly looking for value signings. There could still be big trades later this summer like we've gotten in years past, but from a straight up free agent signing standpoint, most big name deals are settled by now.

Coming off the shocking news that the Bucks were waiving Damian Lillard, that's probably the biggest name whose future is now TBD. Given the Bucks are paying him, it presents an interesting question as to what Dame does next. Will money matter? Does the team have to be in contention? Does the location of the team matter if he wants to be closer to home on the West Coast? How good will he even be after missing a year rehabbing from his achilles injury?

All of these are fair questions. 

Based on the initial reporting of Dame's market, it's hard for me to ignore a certain team being mentioned

Not surprisingly, league sources say Lillard received calls from several contending teams quickly after the news of his Bucks’ ending broke. League sources say the Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers are known to be among the many teams that would have interest in doing a deal sooner rather than later. The question is whether he wants to sign with a team now and rehabilitate while under their care or wait until next summer to reassess the situation.

OK, so this obviously is not the first time as Celts fans we've done the "Should they bring in Damian Lillard?" dance. There are obviously a few significant differences this time around compared to where things were a few years ago when Dame demanded a trade out of Portland. For starters, his salary was $50M and would have required trading Jaylen Brown. Some wanted to do it at the time (dumb!), because given his age and contract situation, it didn't really make sense to pay an aging undersized offensive minded guard that kind of money while also losing Jaylen Brown. It wasn't really about his talent level, but more so the cost it required to do something like that a few years ago.

But now, the money isn't a factor. The Bucks are paying him for the foreseeable future. You now have the potential to add an elite talent for a fraction of the cost without giving up any part of your core. 

That's the good news. The bad news is Dame is now 2 years older, and coming off an achilles injury. Nobody has any idea how he'll look once he's back, but I think it's fair to assume there will be some level of regression.

The other main difference this time around when talking about Dame/Celtics is of course, where the Celtics are as a team. They have an achilles injury of their own to worry about, and after the moves we've seen this summer it's clear this is their "gap" or "transition" season. As a reminder, here is where they stand on July 2nd

so we know more moves are coming. Is that getting under the tax? Just the 2nd apron? Time will tell.

But what we do know is that after the 2025-26 season, with Tatum back in the fold it will be time to give him a roster that is capable of competing for titles. Their ability to add potential needle moving players will be tricky given the vehicles they would in theory have to add talent, so this is where the price part of the equation comes in. 

Say the best case scenario for Dame after this season is that he returns to 75-80% of the offensive player he was this past season. 

From a talent/production perspective, is a player like that on the market for minimum money? If you have the ability to put together a roster of Dame/White/Brown/Tatum while not giving anything up, from a value standpoint and what the team might be able to do in the summer of 2026 to add elite talent, isn't that a kind of no-brainer? If it works out, great! If he's not the same player and it doesn't work, it's really no harm no foul. You can always flip him as an expiring or let him walk altogether.

There are real reasons to be excited over what that type of addition would give you offensively, especially when you think of the shooting that is either gone or could potentially be gone moving forward. The fit next to Tatum is MUCH different than the fit next to Giannis seeing as how Tatum is a much better and more willing screener, while also being a much better off ball fit than Giannis was. It still makes no sense why Giannis never really adjusted his game to become more of a screener with Dame. That was weird. 

I'm also intrigued by the idea of what Dame's pull up game and production would do to opposing defenses and how much that might help guys like Jaylen, just in terms of spacing. Again, we're talking about a high reward/low risk type of move here. I'm not too concerned with the shot distribution, because I also don't think it's the worst thing in the world to not have to rely on Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to do everything. 

There's also the Tatum/Dame recovery aspect to consider. Having two guys go through that rehab together could absolutely be beneficial to both, not just from a physical standpoint of pushing each other, but also a mental standpoint. I imagine achilles rehabs are brutal, so to have another guy right there with you who understands all of your frustrations and struggles might be the thing that helps both players. Not to be dramatic, but the entire future of the Boston Celtics depends on the recovery of Jayson Tatum, so if a signing like this could potentially benefit Tatum's rehab, every single Celtics fan should be behind it.

But there are also clear downsides. Defensively, things are a disaster. There's no getting around that fact. I would just say that even without signing Dame, the perimeter defense is still a bit of a disaster, so what's the difference? I also think that as fans, we need to accept the fact that the days of having a perfectly built roster with 0 defensive holes are a thing of the past. That was a once-in-a-lifetime roster build by Brad Stevens. It was the exception, not the rule, and it's why they were one of the best teams/rosters of all time. In a more normal NBA world, you're going to have holes defensively somewhere on your roster.

Given the price it might take (almost nothing) and the potential for what it could mean for the 2026-27 roster from a talent standpoint, I understand why the Celts supposedly called. Given how expensive their roster is, they need to take swings on low risk, high upside options, which is what I would classify this as. It doesn't require moving core pieces, and it doesn't require a long term commitment. 

What are the chances it happens? I wouldn't hold my breath. But then again, NBA history has told us that Team USA always tells us of future pairings that are coming that we never, ever expect to happen. Things that sounds crazy on paper, and then they happen. Why does that matter? Hmmm

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