In a recent interview with the Oregonian’s “Sports by Northwest” podcast, Andscape’s Hall of Fame NBA reporter Marc J. Spears related that Portland Trail Blazers star point guard Damian Lillard may have another force pulling him eastward from his current club in the Western Conference.
While Lillard remains focused on trying to get himself to another team ahead of the start of the league’s 2023-24 season in what Spears has called “a calculated risk,” All-NBA Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum “has called him, tried to get in his ear, but his focus is definitely on Miami.”
Buy Celtics TicketsSpears has reported on Tatum’s push to persuade his former Team USA teammate to join Boston, before the start of the 2023 free agency period.
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Whether this is a return to that specific incidence of the St. Louis native attempting to bring Lillard onto what was then a different iteration of the ball club or represents a sustained effort by Tatum to pitch Lillard on the Celtics, any such move would require a substantial offer from Boston to pull off.
With the Blazers star earning $45.6 million this season, an offer built around Malcolm Brogdon or Derrick White plus additional contracts to make the swap CBA legal could conceivably be assembled.
But with Boston unlikely to want the years on Lillard’s current contract and Portland unimpressed by what the Celtics have to offer, we wouldn’t hold our breath on this trade or something like it happening any time soon.
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