Boston Celtics: Damian Lillard to be traded to Cs by Christmas, says B/R

The Boston Celtics have been an active bunch thus far into the 2021 NBA offseason and, in turn, have set themselves up for a solid season.

New head coach, Ime Udoka, will seemingly have a much more well-rounded roster to work with than former coach, Brad Stevens did back in 2020-21, what with their newly acquired talents such as Dennis Schroder, Josh Richardson, and Al Horford joining forces with the team’s core of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart.

However, just because the C’s talent pool has made some great strides forward when in comparison to last season’s rotation, this is not to say their days of pursuing more high-impact ballers is over.

With about two months remaining between now and tip-off in October, there is still plenty of time for Stevens and co. to snag perhaps one or two more players (should roster spots open up) to better fill out the roster via free agency while throughout the league year they’ll have the opportunity to take part in some more trades to bring on some high-profile ballers.

One player in specific who could potentially be acquired by means of the latter route is Portland Trail Blazers point guard, Damian Lillard, who has been at the center of trade rumors seemingly since the start of the offseason.

Now, more than two months in we still find the superstar attached to such rumblings and, recently, we even saw the folks at Bleacher Report state that they predict he’ll wind up being traded to the Boston Celtics before Christman of this year.

Though writer Greg Swartz states that Lillard will find himself starting out the season in Oregon, he believes that at some point prior to the holidays he’ll come to the conclusion that his supporting cast just isn’t good enough to win a chip. Because of this, it could force him to look for a new home elsewhere, and Beantown could prove to be a rather enticing destination:

"Much like James Harden playing just eight games with the Houston Rockets last season before being dealt to the Brooklyn Nets, Lillard to Boston will be the next early-season blockbuster.With Jayson Tatum off limits, the Celtics can offer Portland a package based around Jaylen Brown, with other young talent (Aaron Nesmith, Romeo Langford, Grant Williams, Payton Pritchard) available to sweeten a deal as well. Boston owns all of its future first-round picks in the likely event the Blazers seek draft compensation. If newly-signed point guard Dennis Schroder is included in the deal, it would have to occur after Nov. 11 (three months from his signing with Boston).A core of Lillard, Tatum, Marcus Smart, Al Horford and whoever is left over from the trade should once again be one of the top teams in the East, while Portland begins its rebuild around Brown."

Frankly, any Boston Celtics fan should love the concept of seeing Damian Lillard suiting up in Green and White alongside the likes of Jayson Tatum and, over the past several months, we’ve concocted schemes in which this becomes a reality.

As upsetting as it would be to part ways with Jaylen Brown — when I say he’s actually one of my favorite players, it’s not just out of those in Boston but, rather, in the entire league –, for a guy like Lillard it should at the very least be heavily considered.

Arguably the best player at the most important position in the sport, the 6x All-Star had one of the best seasons of his career in 2020-21, posting unbelievable per-game averages of 28.8 points, 7.5 assists, and 4.2 rebounds on 45 percent shooting from the floor and 39 percent shooting from deep.

In this league, star power typically equates to top-flight success for ball clubs and, should the Boston Celtics execute a deal like this, rostering a dynamic duo of Damian Lillard and Jayson Tatum would instantly thrust the franchise into the same stratosphere as teams such as the Milwaukee Bucks, Brooklyn Nets, and Los Angeles Lakers.