Jayson Tatum is hitting the recruiting trail while he recovers from his brutal Achilles surgery, with eyes on a fellow All-Star going through the exact same rehab.
Tatum is looking to convince Damian Lillard to join the Celtics after he was waived by the Milwaukee Bucks, according to the Boston Globe.
Both players tore their Achilles during the NBA playoffs and will miss most, if not all, of the 2025-26 season.
Boston’s front office has reshaped the roster following its second-round elimination at the hands of the Knicks — one year after the Celtics won it all — by trading Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis.
Lillard, who turns 35 on July 15, was recently waived by the Bucks as Milwaukee elected to part ways with the nine-time All-Star and instead bring in longtime Pacers center Myles Turner.
Considering the Bucks will have to pay Lillard $22 million per year over the next five years, and the fact that he’s still going to be sidelined for the entire season, Lillard is reportedly in no rush to sign with his next team.
It’s a mystery how well Lillard’s body will recover from such a serious injury in the latter years of his career, but Boston is reportedly interested in adding Lillard on a multi-year deal to join Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Derrick White.
The seven-time All-NBA point guard averaged 24.9 points, 7.1 assists and 4.7 rebounds on 44.8 percent shooting from the field and 37.6 percent from deep across 58 games with the Bucks this past season.
He’s been an All-Star each of the past three seasons, and his numbers last season were directly on par with his career per-game averages of 25.1 points, 6.7 assists and 4.7 rebounds. His shooting splits were actually slightly up from his career numbers, 43.9 percent and 37.1 percent.
In his two full games in Milwaukee’s playoff series against the Pacers, he scored just 14 points in Game 1 and seven in Game 2, going 6-for-25 from the field in those games.
He then played six scoreless minutes in Game 3 before suffering the Achilles injury.