OAKLAND — Damian Lillard has worn the No. 0 for his entire Hall of Fame career as an homage to Oakland, the city he still considers home.

Milwaukee will release Lillard to sign former Pacers center Myles Turner, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported. The move brings up a fascinating question for the Warriors.

Should Lillard’s hometown team seriously pursue the 34-year-old who will likely miss the entire upcoming 2025-26 season with an Achilles injury?

Multiple outlets have reported that the Bucks will pay Lillard $22 million per year for the next five seasons after stretching the rest of his two-year, $113 million contract to help the team pay for new signing Myles Turner, and that there is interest from around the league.

This gives Lillard flexibility when deciding what he wants to do next.

“He receives all of his money guaranteed, and it provides him an opportunity to decide his next destination as an unrestricted free agent,” Lillard’s agent Aaron Goodwin told the Oregonian. “He gets a chance to rehab at home if he chooses to, and be with his family and his kids for the next year.”

So why shouldn’t the Warriors kick the tires on a two-year, veteran minimum contract for the best player to come out of the Town in decades?

After not making any signings during the first 24 hours of free agency, that would be a way for general manager Mike Dunleavy to make a splash regardless of what happens with restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga.

Lillard could spend next season rehabilitating with the team — or his family — while Milwaukee pays his salary, and then play for Golden State for almost nothing during the 2026-27 season.

If he is anywhere close to the offensive dynamo who has averaged 25.1 points and made 3.1 3-pointers per game for his career, Lillard playing for peanuts would be the biggest bargain in the league.

He would also fit the Warriors’ current timeline, which sees Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green’s contracts all expire during the 2027 offseason.

So why wouldn’t the Warriors make that move, assuming Lillard is interested in coming back to the Bay Area?

Well, there is no guarantee Lillard, a small guard who has never been an overwhelming athlete, will be a high-quality player after coming back from one of the most devastating injuries in sports.

For every Kevin Durant, who comes back with no issues, there are many more Kobe Bryants, another 34-year-old superstar who tore his Achilles tendon and was a shell of himself for the rest of his career.

There is also the fact that the Warriors, with their decorated but pricy core trio, are facing a salary cap crunch. Even if Lillard counts for only a few million, every cent counts as the Warriors attempt to avoid salary cap penalties for spending too much?

And with Golden State’s stars aging and likely to load manage to some degree this regular season, that Lillard roster spot could go to a player who will help keep the veterans rested.

While those are reasonable arguments against bringing in Lillard, the tantalizingly high-end reward could outweigh the risk and whatever negatives for a team seeking a fifth title of the Curry era.

VALLEJO’S MCMILLIAN OUT FOR SUMMER

Vallejo’s Chance McMillian will not play for the Warriors in the summer league season after getting surgery two weeks ago. McMillian was picked up by the team after being undrafted in the 2025 NBA Draft after helping Texas Tech advance to the Elite Eight.

The team knew that he had undergone left ankle surgery to repair a stress fracture two weeks prior and would miss summer league, and there is no timetable for his return to the court.

According to Cleveland Clinic’s website, a stress fracture takes between six to eight weeks to heal.

McMillian, who used a scooter to get around and whose ankle is in a brace, told reporters that he had been dealing with the ankle injury for six months and played through the pain.