Report: Jayson Tatum trying to recruit Damian Lillard to Boston
BOSTON -- When word of a potential Damian Lillard trade first popped up a few weeks ago, it seemed crystal clear that the seven-time All-Star had zero intention of entertaining the idea of joining the Boston Celtics. That's apparently not stopping Jayson Tatum from trying to change his mind.
After Lillard -- as expected -- requested a trade out of Portland over the weekend, ESPN senior writer Marc Spears was working his phone during a live broadcast of "NBA Today" on ESPN. After completing a text exchange, he popped in to say something to host Malika Andrews.
"To your point, that's happening," Spears said of players trying to get in Lillard's ear about coming to their teams. "You saw [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."
That represents some progress from early June, when Tatum dropped in on Lillard's live stream to say, "Damn we get it you don't like Boston" with a pair of crying laughing emojis.
How a trade for Lillard looks remains the difficult part for Boston, as they'd have to match over $40 million in salary while giving Portland valuable pieces for a rebuild. ESPN's Trade Machine would accept a deal that sends Lillard to Boston while sending Malcolm Brogdon, Robert Williams, Payton Pritchard, Luke Kornet and Sam Hauser to Portland. Whether a trade like that is appealing to either team isn't exactly clear. Portland might prefer a deal involving Jaylen Brown, though the Celtics are likely to want to keep their budding superstar tandem together to work with Lillard if such a deal were to commence.
Yet that all may not be an issue, as Spears on Saturday reiterated what has been known all along.
"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."
For now at least, Tatum is trying to change that.
