Boston Celtics Receive: G Damian Lillard, G CJ Elleby, G Ben McLemore, G/F Tony Snell, C Cody Zeller
Portland Trail Blazers Receive: C Al Horford, G Dennis Schroder, G Payton Pritchard, F Aaron Nesmith, F Juancho Hernangomez, BOS 2022 1st Round Pick (Unprotected), BOS 2024 1st Round Pick (Unprotected), BOS 2026 1st Round Pick (Top-10 Protected, Top-4 Protected in 2027, Unprotected in 2028; converts to 2028 2nd Round Pick if not conveyed)
Very rarely do we see more than three players from one team be on the move in a potential deal, but in this trade scenario, both the Boston Celtics and Portland Trail Blazers would be trading an entire lineup to one another!
For starters, it is not that this trade cannot work with five players from each team being on the move, but it is highly unlikely that both the Celtics and Blazers would want to bring in five new faces to their roster. Maybe Portland would, since this move would signal a rebuild, but it is more likely that 2-3 other teams would be involved in this trade to make the cap situations for all teams a little more fluid.
Giving up Damian Lillard and a handful of role players, Portland would be getting back two guys in Al Horford and Dennis Schroder who can play right away and contribute, plus two young talents in Nesmith and Pritchard to help build for the future.
Hernangomez is nothing more than a salary “placeholder” in this trade and the Blazers would also make out with two unprotected first-round picks and a protected first-round pick spanning from 2026-2028.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Damian Lillard Growing ‘Frustrated’ With Trail Blazers’ Play
The Blazers have been lacking depth all season long and by leveraging Dame, maybe they could try to remain somewhat relevant this year with a core of CJ McCollum, Norman Powell, Al Horford, Dennis Schroder and Jusuf Nurkic.
Boston has not been afraid to make big moves in the past and first-time executive Brad Stevens has already shown no fear in making big trades. He moved Kemba Walker off the Celtics’ books this past offseason and also found a way to do a sign-and-trade with Evan Fournier and the Knicks just after the team had acquired him at the trade deadline during the 2020-21 season.
Going out and trading for Damian Lillard would be one of the biggest moves in Boston Celtics’ team history and it would create one of the best offensive trios the NBA has ever seen in Lillard, Tatum and Brown.
When healthy, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum already make up one of the better two-way duos in the league, but this team is missing that third star to set them over the edge. They thought they had this with former All-Star Kemba Walker the last few years, but his knee injuries really limited his overall production to this team.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Damian Lillard Growing ‘Frustrated’ With Trail Blazers’ Play
The Celtics have made the playoffs for seven consecutive seasons and while they have reached the Eastern Conference Finals three different times in this time span, they have not reached the NBA Finals since 2010.
Trading for Lillard immediately makes the Boston Celtics one of the teams to beat in the Eastern Conference and while they would be sacrificing a lot of depth, they would surely still have enough firepower and talent to possibly edge out the Bucks, Heat and/or Nets en route to the NBA Finals this season.
