If the caller name doesn’t start with Miami and end with Heat, Damian Lillard doesn’t want to hear it –– even if it’s Jayson Tatum.
ESPN’s Marc Spears said players have been trying to persuade Lillard to join their respective lineups, namely, Jayson Tatum.
“You saw [Knicks forward Josh] Hart, and I’m hearing Jayson Tatum’s knocking on that door now, too, trying to figure out a way to get him to come to Boston,” Spears said on “NBA Today” over the weekend.
After 11 seasons in Portland, Lillard requested a trade on July 2 from the team that drafted him sixth overall in the 2012 NBA Draft, making him one of the most sought after players on the market this summer.
Despite Tatum’s efforts, a deal that would bring Lillard to T.D. Garden seems highly unlikely for a few reasons.
For one, Lillard doesn’t want seem to want to go there — or just about anywhere else.
“He wants to go to South Beach. He wants to go to Miami,” Spears said. “He don’t want to go to anywhere else, at the moment, but Miami.”
ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Lillard’s agent Aaron Goodwin has been fending off trade offers from any team but the Heat.
The seven-time All-Star also would come at a real cost for the Celtics, one they seem unwilling to pay even if Lillard would help fill the Marcus Smart-sized hole left in their lineup after acquiring Kristaps Porzingis.
Besides having to match over $40 million in salary, Boston would have to deal a core piece to the rebuilding Trail Blazers, and Jaylen Brown’s name has bubbled to the surface.
Nevertheless, the Tatum-Brown duo is on the verge of reaching its prime and the Celtics would like to see that through.
Starting July 1, Brown was eligible to agree to a five-year, $295 million super-max extension.
While nothing has been inked yet, league sources have insisted that the two sides will eventually work it out.
As Portland’s all-time leading scorer, Lillard wants to slot into a contending roster, just — sorry, Jayson Tatum — not in Boston,
Through the 2022-23 season, Lillard averaged 32.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 7.3 assists and shot 46.3 percent from the field.
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