Damian Lillard has taken the Portland Trail Blazers to task. After two years of tanking, which the front office sold to Dame as steps toward building a trade package that could land him a costar worthy of an honest title pursuit, all that Lillard has alongside him on the Blazers roster are parts that failed to make the playoffs two seasons in a row and young up-and-comers who are at least a few years away from meaningful contributions.
As such, Dame has finally done the unthinkable: requested a trade away from the Trail Blazers — and more specifically, to the Miami Heat.
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Unsurprisingly, after new General Manager Joe Cronin pushed Lillard to his limits and essentially forced him into demanding a trade, he’s now gone on record to say that he will search for the best trade package in any potential Dame trade, regardless of the Top 75 player’s wishes.
Eleven years of loyalty be damned, Cronin has assembled a promising young backcourt between Shaedon Sharpe and recent third-overall pick Scoot Henderson. With Dame’s incumbent replacement already locked into a rookie contract, Cronin now would like to ship out his All-NBA point guard for a haul that would help accelerate the rebuild around Sharpe and Henderson.
Unfortunately for Cronin, with Dame making his demands public and stating that he only has one team on his list of preferred destinations, it’ll likely be a harder task than the executive expected.
Any other team looking to add Dame’s services to their roster knows what they have to beat in order to give the Trail Blazers their top offer: the Miami Heat’s.
| 2022-23 Stats | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Damian Lillard | Pts | Reb | Ast |
 |
4.8 | 7.3 | |
| 3rd | 90th | 77th | |
Still, it’s not like the Heat’s package is completely outside the realm of superstar trades we’ve seen in the past. They owe one future-protected first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
If they’re able to renegotiate the protections on that selection, the Heat could open up the pathway to a package featuring young prospects such as Tyler Herro, Nikola Jovic, and Jaime Jaquez, three first-round picks, and as many potential first-round pick swaps needed to appease Cronin and the rest of the Trail Blazers brass.
While it’s not hard to see a team such as the Brooklyn Nets or New Orleans Pelicans trumping that package, would they really want to knowing that Dame doesn’t prefer to be there?
Would they still be in contention after beating that package in order to acquire Dame?
None of that is guaranteed, and it might very well be that the Miami Heat end up with the best offer for Damian Lillard.
Bam Adebayo and Damian Lillard have developed a close relationship over the years. If Dame ends up in Miami, their time playing together for Team USA will be a big reason why pic.twitter.com/y3V3L0mMMr
— The Basement Sports (@BasementSportsN) July 11, 2023
| Title: Do the Miami Heat have the best trade package for Damian Lillard?
| Author: Andy Quach
| Date: June 12th, 2023
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