Former nine-time All-Star Milwaukee Bucks point guard Damian Lillard is a late addition to this summer's free agent class after the team opted to stretch-and-waive his contract to make room for ex-Indiana Pacers 3-and-D center Myles Turner's new four-year $107 million deal. Now, Lillard will be paid $22.5 million for the next five seasons to not play for the Bucks.
Lillard will likely miss all of the 2025-26 while he recovers from an Achilles tendon tear suffered during Milwaukee's five-game, first round playoff series loss to Indiana, so if he does sign with a team this summer, that next club will need to include his health into its calculus.
BetUS considers the Miami Heat to be the favorites to ink Lillard to a new deal with +200 odds. A reunion with the team that drafted him in 2012, the Portland Trail Blazers, has been given the second-best odds of happening at +300. Lillard's occasional playoff nemesis during his Trail Blazers days, the Denver Nuggets, have been given the third-best odds (+400).
In a bit of a surprise, Lillard's hometown Golden State Warriors have been given +600 odds of bringing him aboard, fifth-best among all NBA contenders.
#NBA | 🔥 Where will Damian Lillard land for the 2025/26 season?
— BetUS NBA (@BetUS_NBA) July 2, 2025
The Heat are leading the race at +200!
Would he fit in Miami? Bet NOW ➡️ https://t.co/PxGsTeQlBy pic.twitter.com/2RKVhJJ14V
Lillard initially had wanted to be dealt away from the Trail Blazers to the Heat during the 2023 offseason, to play alongside six-time All-Star forward Jimmy Butler. The 6-foot-7 Marquette product is now with Golden State.
The Warriors, who got knocked out in the second round of the playoffs this past spring by the younger, longer Minnesota Timberwolves amid injuries to Butler and 11-time All-Star point guard Stephen Curry, are skewing old of late, so from that perspective a Lillard signing makes some sense.
Curry is 37, Butler will turn 36 before the start of the 2025-26 season, and four-time All-Star power forward Draymond Green is 35. Golden State has also recently been rumored to have interest in 39-year-old free agent Boston Celtics center/power forward Al Horford. Adding 34-year-old Lillard, who will miss probably all of next year, only boosts the Warriors' average age.