While it has been widely reported that Damian Lillard wants to join Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo on the Heat, the current state of that potential deal remains one big question mark. Any possible deal Miami could offer the Trail Blazers for their star is unlikely to move the needle with a third or even fourth team getting involved.
The waiting game for something to come together could take longer than Lillard hopes, but The Ringer’s Bill Simmons offered a candid outlook on a more realistic trade that gives him an immediate chance to win a title. As Simmons explained on The Bill Simmons Podcast, a potential Celtics deal is “starting to make more and more sense.”
“I don’t see a trade, other than the Miami trade, which I don’t think is going to happen, that will propel him to some sort of, ‘oh now he’s on the cusp,’ unless it’s the Celtics. Now, Jaylen Brown can sign for this extension in five minutes and this will be moot, but I just keep circling that trade wondering, it’s starting to make more and more sense to me,” Simmons explained.
During the discussion with Ryen Russillo, Simmons also pointed out that the possible Celtics deal could involve a third team, as he pitched the Rockets sending assets to Portland and receiving Brown in exchange, with Lillard then heading to Boston.
The primary selling point from Simmons was fair, as he argued that aside from Miami or Boston, any other potential trade destination won’t set Lillard up in a spot where he’d be joining an immediate title contender.
