Celtics star Jayson Tatum actively recruited Damian Lillard to Boston this summer, according to a report from Andscape‘s Marc Spears, but the Trail Blazers star was dead set on joining the Heat.
Trade talks have stalled and Lillard remains in Portland ahead of the start of training camp next month, but the expectation is that if the longtime Blazers star is moved, Miami is the favorite.
“I think at 33 years old, [Lillard] looks at the landscape of the West and it’s like, ‘I think my chances are better to go out East, and if Miami is able to make the Finals without somebody like myself, what can they do with me?’ So, you don’t make that move unless it’s certainly a calculated risk,” Spears said on The Oregonian‘s Sports By Northwest podcast. “And I know that Boston—I know Jayson Tatum has called him, try to get in his ear, but his focus is definitely on Miami.”
It’s likely that the talks between Tatum and Lillard came before fellow star Jaylen Brown signed his NBA record supermax contract extension this summer. Boston seems ready to move forward with Brown and Tatum as their franchise cornerstones.
As for Lillard, it remains to be seen whether he is traded as the season approaches, but as far as he’s concerned, it’s Miami or bust.
