Boston Celtics: Ranking the top 5 Damian Lillard trade destinations

Well, folks, the NBA offseason is really about to ratchet up, and the Boston Celtics could very well find themselves in the center of all the trade suspense…as they have tended to be throughout the past decade.

Portland Trailblazers superstar point guard Damian Lillard is likely to hit the trade block soon, and teams will be circling like sharks to land the league’s best floor general the past several seasons.

Realistically, all 29 other teams–even the ones with point guards in place–will register some level of interest in the 6x All-Star. But that doesn’t mean that teams will be gathering up all of their assets to land him.

Having just turned 31 yesterday, Lillard figures to have two-three years left at his current level barring injury. Of course, Chris Paul is currently proving with the Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns that elite point guard play can still happen late into your 30’s, but that’s far from the norm.

Ipso facto, only teams with ambitions of contending soon make sense. Lillard is likely to land with a team that believes he is the missing piece and have good but expendable assets to part with to pair the Weber State great alongside an existing All-Star piece.

Here are the 5 best Lillard trade destinations, ranked:

#5 Damian Lillard trade destination: Dallas Mavericks

Luka Doncic and Damian Lillard would be one hell of a 1-2 punch in the Metroplex, but what may be holding the team back from pulling off such a deal is the lack of trade assets.

The New York Knicks own both Dallas’ 2021 and 2023 picks as a result of the Kristaps Porzingis deal in 2019. Depending on how Portland views the seven-foot-three injury-prone Latvian, there might not be enough in the Trail Blazers’ trove of draft capital and youth to get a deal done.