{"id":76312,"date":"2025-07-05T08:08:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T08:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=76312"},"modified":"2025-07-05T08:10:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T08:10:06","slug":"damian-lillard-sends-strong-message-as-warriors-eye-him-in-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=76312","title":{"rendered":"Damian Lillard Sends Strong Message as Warriors Eye Him in Free Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2198809219-e1751664502742.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2198809219-e1751664502742.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2198809219-e1751664502742.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2198809219-e1751664502742.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Damian Lillard Sends Strong Message as Warriors Eye Him in Free Agency\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>The Golden State Warriors are interested in pairing Damian Lillard with Stephen Curry.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Golden State Warriors\u2018 reported interest in nine-time NBA All-Star point guard Damian Lillard was met with a strong message.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf they call it a \u2018gamble\u2019 at this stage\u2026 tell \u2019em this [is] the jackpot. #ToBeContinued,\u201d Lillard posted on X on Thursday, July 3.<\/p>\n<p>The Milwaukee Bucks stunningly waived Lillard to sign center Myles Turner in free agency.<\/p>\n<p>The Warriors are\u00a0among 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot surprisingly, league sources say Lillard received calls from several contending teams quickly after the news of his Bucks\u2019 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,\u201d per The Athletic report.<\/p>\n<p>The Warriors have a strong pull to Lillard.<\/p>\n<p>In 2023, the Bucks were not Lillard\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve always been in some form of contact with each other,\u201d Lillard said at the time. \u201cAnd I said it, initially I was like, \u2018I want to go to Miami.\u2019 He was a big part of that. It didn\u2019t happen. I\u2019m here now. But our relationship will be the same. The same respect. It\u2019s just something that didn\u2019t happen. It was out of his control and mine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That could happen now with the Warriors, a team Lillard grew up watching as an Oakland native.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Damian Lillard Open to Joining a New Team Now<\/h2>\n<p>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 \u201celated\u201d as it afforded him freedom to choose where he plays next without financial constraints.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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 \u201cunder the right terms and conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those terms and conditions were not disclosed.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Lillard is a nine-time All-Star and seven-time All-NBA player.<\/p>\n<p>He would be the most accomplished backcourt mate\u00a0Stephen Curry has ever had, but it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnother thing that I\u2019m hearing, of the many teams that reached out to Damian Lillard, the Warriors are one of those teams,\u201d ESPN\u2019s Marc J. Spears said on \u201cNBA Today\u201d,\u00a0per Bleacher Report\u2019s Scott Polacek\u00a0on July 1. \u201cThis 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\u2019s interesting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHearing that the Warriors do have interest in Dame, I know that\u2019s very interesting to Bay Area people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alder Almo is a basketball journalist covering the NBA for Heavy.com. He has more than 15 years of experience in local and international media, including broadcast, print and digital. He previously covered the Knicks for Empire Sports Media and the NBA for Off the Glass. Alder is from the Philippines and is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey. More about Alder Almo<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Golden State Warriors are eyeing Damian Lillard despite his Achilles injury. Here&#8217;s what Lillard has to say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":76314,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Damian Lillard Sends Strong Message as Warriors Eye Him in Free Agency - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=76312\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Damian Lillard Sends Strong Message as Warriors Eye Him in Free Agency - News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Golden State Warriors are eyeing Damian Lillard despite his Achilles injury. 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