NBA Trade Rumors: Jayson Tatum attempted to recruit Damian Lillard to the Boston Celtics, but he still remains focused on the Miami Heat.
Time is ticking on the Portland Trail Blazers and if they truly want to find a deal for Damian Lillard before the start of the 2023-24 NBA season, they have to start moving now. But with only one team seriously interested in Lillard, for one reason or another, you can imagine how difficult it may be for the Blazers to genuinely find the best possible return.
Nevertheless, that’s something the front office is tasked with over the course of the next few weeks.
Aside from Miami, as you would expect, there have been at least a few other teams sniffing around to see if they could change Lillard’s tune toward a Miami-only preferred landing spot. One of those teams was the Boston Celtics.
Jayson Tatum tried to recruit Damian Lillard to the Boston Celtics
On a “Sports By Northwest” podcast appearance, ESPN’s Marc Spears noted that Jayson Tatum tried to recruit Lillard to the Celtics. However, at least for now, it does still appear that Lillard is focused on the Heat.
Interestingly enough, that may be one of the reasons why there’s a lack of trade market for Lillard at the moment. And that could also be the reason why there hasn’t been a trade completely.
The Blazers are hoping for the Lillard trade market to heat up before they settle in on a deal. Though, if the word around the league is that Lillard is still focused on Miami and only Miami, it’s hard to imagine the market changing all that much compared to how it stands at the moment.
Lillard clearly wants to find his way to the Heat and it doesn’t seem like anything is going to stop him from doing everything he can to get there. At this point, with a month left before the start of training camp, the Blazers need to make a decision one way or another.
Do they want to bring this potential distraction into training camp, or would they rather just cut ties with Lillard before the start of the season and focus on their current rebuild?
If Lillard does remain focused on the Heat, it’s hard to imagine Portland not eventually giving in to the demands of its franchise’s best player in history. There’s still a question of when it will happen, though.