The Golden State Warriors‘ reported interest in nine-time NBA All-Star point guard Damian Lillard was met with a strong message.
“If they call it a ‘gamble’ at this stage… tell ’em this [is] the jackpot. #ToBeContinued,” Lillard posted on X on Thursday, July 3.
The Milwaukee Bucks stunningly waived Lillard to sign center Myles Turner in free agency.
The Warriors are among the three teams that would want to sign Lillard even if he is expected to miss next season while recovering from his Achilles injury, according to The Athletic.
“Not surprisingly, league sources say Lillard received calls from several contending teams quickly after the news of his Bucks’ ending broke. League sources say the Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers are known to be among the many teams that would have interest in doing a deal sooner rather than later,” per The Athletic report.
The Warriors have a strong pull to Lillard.
In 2023, the Bucks were not Lillard’s preferred destination when the Portland Trail Blazers traded him. It was the Miami Heat, primarily because of Jimmy Butler, Lillard told Fox Sports in 2023.
“We’ve always been in some form of contact with each other,” Lillard said at the time. “And I said it, initially I was like, ‘I want to go to Miami.’ He was a big part of that. It didn’t happen. I’m here now. But our relationship will be the same. The same respect. It’s just something that didn’t happen. It was out of his control and mine.”
That could happen now with the Warriors, a team Lillard grew up watching as an Oakland native.
Damian Lillard Open to Joining a New Team Now
Sam Amick of The Athletic reported shortly after the Bucks decided to waive Lillard and stretch the remaining $113 million on his contract that the 34-year-old point guard was “elated” as it afforded him freedom to choose where he plays next without financial constraints.
Lillard can sign for the minimum and still earn the $113 million the Bucks owe him, albeit stretched in five years with equal $22.5 million payments.
According to NBA insider Chris Haynes, Lillard is open to signing with a team this offseason while undergoing rehabilitation from his devastating injury, but it will only happen “under the right terms and conditions.”
Those terms and conditions were not disclosed.
But the Warriors have the track record of overseeing a successful return of a player from a devastating injury. Former Warriors star Klay Thompson averaged over 20 points in the two seasons that followed after his two-and-a-half year recovery from a torn ACL and Achilles.
Lillard is a nine-time All-Star and seven-time All-NBA player.
He would be the most accomplished backcourt mate Stephen Curry has ever had, but it’s more likely the Warriors are interested in him to serve as his back up as two small guards in their backcourt is a disaster waiting to happen in the postseason.
“Another thing that I’m hearing, of the many teams that reached out to Damian Lillard, the Warriors are one of those teams,” ESPN’s Marc J. Spears said on “NBA Today”, per Bleacher Report’s Scott Polacek on July 1. “This is a guy that grew up going to games at Oracle Arena, sneaking into the media room getting sodas. Grew up a Warriors fan. That’s interesting.
“Hearing that the Warriors do have interest in Dame, I know that’s very interesting to Bay Area people.”
