Boston Celtics fans got a fresh jolt of Damian Lillard chatter this week, but the buzz isn’t coming from an actual trade development.
A spike in Google Trends around the Celtics on Thursday morning showed rising searches tied to Lillard and a possible move to Boston. That quickly created the kind of rumor cloud that can take off fast online. But in this case, the attention is being driven by a trade idea, not reporting that a deal is close.
The source of the noise was a Wednesday piece from Heavy’s Adel Ahmad, also published on Yahoo Sports, with the headline, " Damian Lillard Projected to Join Celtics in Blockbuster 3-Player NBA Trade." The framing made it easy for readers to think something concrete was happening.
It wasn’t. The story was a proposal.
Right now, there are no reports saying the Celtics are trying to land Lillard. There’s also nothing pointing to the Portland Trail Blazers shopping the nine-time All-Star.
Lillard’s current contract only adds another layer to the discussion. He signed a three-year, $42 million deal in 2025 to return to Portland, and that contract includes both a player option and a no-trade clause.
The roster picture in Portland has changed since then, too. The Blazers’ point guard room is even more crowded now with the addition of Ja Morant, and that has people wondering how coach Micah Nori will sort out the rotation this season.
That setup is what led Ahmad to float the idea in the first place. As he wrote, "There’s no denying that the future of Portland’s backcourt revolves around the 22-year-old [Scoot] Henderson, who had a 30-point performance in last season’s playoffs, and the newly-acquired Morant, who aims to get his career back to where it was a few years ago when he was viewed as a league MVP candidate," Ahmad wrote.
He also pointed to Boston’s own situation: "Meanwhile, over in Boston, Celtics fans are still reeling from the Jaylen Brown trade. Even worse, the Celtics still don’t have an elite backcourt star, though Payton Pritchard may have something to say about that next season. But if Portland was open to moving Lillard to Boston, the Celtics would likely be interested."
This isn’t the first time Boston has been connected to Lillard, either. Before he returned to Portland last offseason, The Athletic reported that the Celtics were among "several contending teams" interested in trading for him. At that point, the question centered on how Lillard’s rehabilitation would affect his choice - whether he would sign somewhere immediately or wait a year while he recovered.
Two weeks after that report, Lillard chose to rejoin the Trail Blazers.
For now, though, the current wave of Celtics-Lillard speculation looks like exactly what it is: a viral trade concept, not a sign that a move is coming.
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