Another team has just joined the mouse race that is, facilitating Damian Lillard to the Miami Heat. Due to the Portland Trail Blazers’ unwillingness to carry out a simple deal sending Damian Lillard to Miami, has led to the Toronto Raptors trying to come in and work out a three-team trade.
The Toronto Raptors are interested in Tyler Herro, per @MikeAScotto
“The Toronto Raptors can also be added to the list of teams that have expressed exploratory interest in acquiring Herro as part of multi-team trade talks between the Blazers and Heat involving Lillard, league… pic.twitter.com/T8HKdzDwMt
— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) July 15, 2023
Trail Blazers GM Joe Cronin has made it quite clear that he expects at least two good young players and 4 first-round picks in exchange for Dame. However, he did only list this as a base case, and his comments don’t include anything about receiving a superstar in return. Reports have come out stating that the Toronto Raptors are highly interested in acquiring Tyler Herro.
As we know Tyler Herro has become the main piece in the Damian Lillard trade due to his star potential and relatively young age. Herro is a gifted scorer that can shoot the lights out and given the right development environment, can even turn into a player of prime Klay Thompson‘s caliber.
Will the Toronto Raptors trade Pascal Siakam to land Tyler Herro?
There are rumors of a potential three-team trade between the Portland Trail Blazers, Miami Heat, and Toronto Raptors. While this may turn out to be another Dame trade idea floating around throughout the community, there is substantial claim considering the Raptors’ longtime interest in Tyler Herro.
The Raptors possess some young talent in the form of Pascal Siakam, Scottie Barnes, and OG Anunoby. However, they just lost their star point guard Fred VanVleet to the Houston Rockets and as evidenced by previous seasons, do not have the firepower to make it past the 8th or 9th seed.
Add to this fact that resident superstar Pascal Siakam has been getting more and more upset with his role in the organization and you have the makings of a blockbuster trade.
For Cronin to land a talent like Siakam while giving up an unhappy and aging player in Damian Lillard would be a dream come true. The potential trade would send Tyler Herro to the Toronto Raptors, Damian Lillard to the Miami Heat, and Pascal Siakam along with draft compensation to the Portland Trail Blazers.
At the end of the day, the trade doesn’t have to involve Siakam. Toronto could easily trade OG Anunoby and another player as part of the package to Portland, but the way Joe Cronin’s standards are set, it would be quite surprising to see him accept a package with anything less than the 29-year-old superstar.