Several teams besides the Heat are believed to be kicking the tires on a potential Damian Lillard trade with the Trail Blazers.
But even so, it seems, Lillard’s stance will not change. He will still want a trade to Miami. And per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Lillard would ask any team that acquires him to trade him to the Heat — just as he has reportedly asked the Blazers.
“I think there are teams that will trade for him,” Wojnarowski said, via Anthony Chiang and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. “But it’s a little bit of a negotiating crutch where you tell Portland, ‘Hey, I’m not offering you everything we might because we’re taking risk here.’ “He says he only wants to play in Miami. That kind of dulls the offers a little bit. Portland is trying to put together a number of multiteam scenarios to see if they can get the assets back they want.
Wojnarowski added that the Heat and Blazers haven’t discussed a Lillard trade since July. But the Blazers are indeed talking Lillard trades, it seems — just with other teams. There’s a theory out there, though, that they are talking with those teams to try to work out a multiteam deal with Miami.
Per Wojnarowski, this is something the Heat have encouraged. After all, they don’t just want Lillard.
“They just want him for as little as they’re going to have to give up,” Wojnarowski said. “They’re essentially daring Portland to go out into the marketplace, which Portland is doing, and see if they can find better…. The goal isn’t to just get Damian Lillard. It’s to get Damian Lillard for as little as you have to give up to be able to still have the ability to put a team around Jimmy Butler, Lillard, Bam Adebayo in Miami.”
We have much more on the Lillard situation on our Heat page and our Blazers page. Training camp is just about three weeks away.
