Damian Lillard and his agent, Aaron Goodwin, seem to have just woken up to reality. Perhaps there wasn’t as much of a market for displeased Portland Trail Blazers player Damian Lillard as first anticipated. The Miami Heat are allegedly still interested in Lillard. Although it doesn’t appear that the Blazers had many takers when the trade request was initially made.
An unidentified NBA official recently stated that there was a definite limit to what teams were ready to give up in exchange for the veteran player. “There’s not that many teams that are going to give you a bunch of players and picks for a 33-year-old who can’t stay healthy and has a giant contract sitting there,” he said.
An NBA executive says teams weren’t lining up for Damian Lillard before his agent requested only Miami
“There’s not that many teams that are going to give you a bunch of players and picks for a 33-year-old who can’t stay healthy and has a giant contract sitting there…it was… pic.twitter.com/l68stawiBJ
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) August 31, 2023
A fundamental truth gets lost in the fuss surrounding Dame and the extremely small list of NBA clubs to whom he wants to be traded. The list of just one, according to his own agent Aaron Goodwin, and that team is the Miami Heat. The market for trading for Lillard wasn’t exactly booming even before he restricted his market to Miami.
Dame, who asked to be traded in the offseason, is still with the Blazers as the NBA season draws near. Lillard’s top option is still the Heat, but a deal between the two clubs is still far from being reached.
How likely is the Miami Heat & Damian Lillard deal?
Lillard still wants the Blazers to move him to the Heat despite the NBA’s warning to him and his agent that any future remarks made implying Lillard would not completely execute the services required under his player contract in the event of a trade will be subject to sanctions.
Tyler Herro of the Heat will likely be a key player moving to the Blazers if a deal between Portland and Miami is finalized. The value Herro brings to the court, though, may be seen differently by the two teams. Before the start of training camp, according to NBA insider Marc J. Spears of Andscape, the Portland Trail Blazers will trade Damian Lillard to the Miami Heat.
“When [Tyler Herro’s] on the floor—There’s some shooters that are
on the floor that put fear in your heart. And [Tyler Herro’s] one of them. Those are hard players to find. This Tyler Herro hate from the beginning has been really confusing to me.” – @MarcJSpears via @Oregonian pic.twitter.com/C4EQIrVgzG— Dru (@dru_star) August 31, 2023
Portland missed the playoffs in each of the previous two seasons after an eight-season streak of postseason participation. They won just 50 games overall during that time. According to Spears, the Blazers should only be concerned with bringing in quality, regardless of position.
This most recent information by the executive might perhaps explain why a Damian Lillard trade has not yet taken place. It is easy to understand why the Blazers wouldn’t be eager to move the point guard to Miami. It is essentially a one-team market if the executive’s assessment of Dame Time’s value is accurate.