Throughout his information convention final week, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens stated he was “very snug” with the crew’s present roster heading into the 2025-26 season.
Stevens appreciates Anfernee Simons’ offensive recreation and top-shelf 3-point capturing, and Georges Niang’s observe report of contributing on profitable groups. He believes Luka Garza and Josh Minott each have “unrealized upside” that they weren’t in a position to present throughout their time as deep reserves in Minnesota. And he’s high on first-round draft pick Hugo Gonzalez, although the younger Spaniard won’t be prepared to right away contribute as a 19-year-old rookie.
Boston’s depleted frontcourt is a major question mark, Stevens acknowledged, following the exits of Kristaps Porzingis, Luke Kornet and certain Al Horford. However he likes the gamers the Celtics have added to their returning core (which is headlined by Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser) and instructed they didn’t have any extra main strikes deliberate.
However in response to multiple reports, the Celtics are contemplating making a marquee addition to their revamped roster — one who possible wouldn’t assist them this season however may give them one other star-studded beginning 5 in 2026-27.
That participant: level guard Damian Lillard, who’s a free agent after being waived-and-stretched by the Bucks earlier this month.
The circumstances of Lillard’s departure from Milwaukee created a uncommon alternative for a crew to signal a superstar-level participant at an inexpensive worth, because the Bucks pays him the $112.6 million remaining on his earlier contract. Whether or not he’ll stay a superstar-level participant when he returns to the courtroom is not any assure, nevertheless. Lillard is considered one of three All-Stars who suffered torn Achilles tendons throughout the 2025 NBA playoffs — together with Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton — and, like Tatum, is predicted to overlook not less than a big portion of the 2025-26 season, if not all of it.
Is including Lillard a worthwhile gamble for the Celtics? Listed below are the professionals and cons of that pairing:
The case for signing Lillard
Nicely, for starters, he’s been one of many NBA’s finest offensive gamers for greater than a decade.
A nine-time All-Star and seven-time All-NBA choice (one first crew, 4 second, two third), Lillard has averaged not less than 24 factors per recreation for 10 straight seasons and not less than seven assists per recreation for the final six. He’s a clutch shot grasp and one of many NBA’s preeminent 3-point threats, and he’d be becoming a member of a Celtics crew that simply set an NBA report for made threes in a season.
Lillard’s factors per shot try has ranked within the 94th percentile or greater amongst guards in 5 of the final seven seasons, per Cleansing the Glass, together with in 2022-23 and ’24-25.
It shouldn’t be doable within the trendy NBA to area a roster that options Tatum, Brown and Lillard, who had been set to earn a mixed $169.7 million in wage in 2025-26. However since he’ll nonetheless be cashing his checks from the Bucks, signing Lillard would value a fraction of the $54.1 million he was on the books for in Milwaukee this coming season.
In contrast to the Celtics’ beginning guards for the final two seasons (Derrick White and Jrue Vacation), Lillard is a high-usage participant, so discovering a strategy to function an offense that correctly makes use of him, Tatum and Brown would require some creativity from Mazzulla. But when they’ll strike that stability, he’d give Boston one other elite scorer who may assist speed up their return to championship rivalry. He’d additionally add depth to a backcourt that solely has White and Payton Pritchard beneath contract past 2026.
The Celtics should not anticipated to contend this season, so there’d be little hurt in signing Lillard and permitting him to spend the yr rehabbing alongside Tatum — who, in response to one latest report, is making a strong push to convey his former Group USA teammate to Boston. The Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn on Saturday reported Tatum “has been lively in recruiting Lillard,” with whom he performed on the 2020 Olympics in Japan.
From Lillard’s perspective, becoming a member of the Celtics may give him a sensible shot at a title in 2027, relying on how Tatum recovers and the way Stevens and Co. piece collectively the remainder of the roster. The 13-year veteran’s deepest playoff run was a visit to the Western Convention finals with Portland in 2019.
The case towards signing Lillard
If the most important argument for Lillard is value, the strongest rebuttal is well being.
Lillard turns 35 this week, and he’s recovering from one of the severe accidents a basketball participant can maintain. There’s a superb probability he’ll be 36 by the point he takes the courtroom once more.
There’s zero precedent for a star participant in his mid-30s tearing his Achilles and persevering with to carry out on the identical stage post-injury. None. It might be borderline beautiful if Lillard returns and delivers an All-Star-caliber season in 2026-27, no matter which crew he joins.
There’s optimism that Tatum will be capable of overcome his harm, however that’s as a result of he’s 27 and has largely stayed wholesome all through his NBA profession, to not point out that he was operated on inside hours by one of many prime Achilles surgeons. Lillard is 7 1/2 years older, and he handled a slew of different illnesses in recent times, lacking 110 regular-season video games because the begin of the 2021-22 marketing campaign.
On the courtroom, Lillard is a below-average defender, so the Celtics would must be prepared to simply accept his shortcomings at that finish (as they’re at present doing with the offense-focused Simons). Including Lillard additionally would imply dedicating two roster spots to gamers who could possibly be unavailable all season.
Lastly, although Lillard reportedly is extra receptive to becoming a member of Boston than he was in 2023, when the Celtics had been linked to him earlier than buying and selling for Vacation, it’s unclear the place his priorities lie this offseason. The Celtics can supply Lillard a minimal contract, or a $5.7 million taxpayer mid-level exception in the event that they make extra strikes to dip again under the second apron of the posh tax, which they exceeded with their latest signings of Garza and Minott.
Boston is more likely to make these strikes regardless, however time will inform whether or not its valuation of Lillard aligns together with his personal.
Initially Revealed:
