Grade the Trade: Celtics land Lillard but keep Jaylen in new proposal

Laying out the Lillard trade

On his “Lowe Post” podcast this past week with John Hollinger, NBA writer Zach Lowe was theorizing about a few different Damian Lillard trade ideas. He brought up the Celtics and theorized a deal where Boston sent Malcolm Brogdon and Robert Williams (and a truckload of draft picks) to the Portland Trail Blazers to bring back Lillard.

The problem with that construction is that it doesn’t get close enough to Lillard’s salary, especially not under the rules of the new CBA which make it more difficult for high-salary teams to match salary in trades. However, there is one narrow path: at the time of writing, the Grant Williams sign-and-trade doesn’t appear to have been officially announced. If the Celtics can link his outgoing salary into the deal, they could get close enough to add Lillard.

This would be a four-team trade with the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs (and Boston would route a second-round pick to Portland to satisfy the touching requirements), but we will separate out the new elements to evaluate the package for Lillard:

The Trail Blazers would be getting a young defensive anchor in Robert Williams, the kind of player they don’t have at all on their current roster. Payton Pritchard is a reasonable long-term backup to Scoot Henderson, while Brogdon is simply matching salary that the Blazers could try to flip at the NBA Trade Deadline. The players don’t represent an overwhelming return, but the draft haul certainly does: three first-round picks and three swaps. That’s right up there with other deals being offered by teams like the Miami Heat.

It’s not an overwhelming package for the Blazers, but it’s at least close enough to discuss. Were Portland to give the thumbs up, should the Celtics say yes to this deal?