Damian Lillard trade destinations: Star wants
Heat, but plenty of other teams have more to
offer
This is Sam Quinn for CBS.
...he reportedly has his heart set on one team in particular: the Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat.
We know how this usually goes. When a star wants to go to one team in particular, he usually gets there. ...
What could the Heat give up to land Lillard, and who has the assets and upside to take Lillard away from his favored destination?
Hold on a second there. Dame is still under contract with Portland. That works two ways. Portland of course does not have to trade him at all, or to Miami, but has said that they will accommodate his trade request. If they don't trade him to Miami, but instead to BKLN or Phila, for instance, those other orgs would be getting an unhappy player. Both BKLN (Kyrie, KD) and Philly (Baby Ben) know something about that and would be most unlikely to give a trade their best shot. Portland cannot aim too high here. If they play hard ball Dame could rescind his trade request and stay with them, pissed. He has got some leverage here, too.
Miami Heat
There are a couple of core problems with Miami's presumed offer:
- Miami
currently owes a 2025 first-round pick to Oklahoma City that
simultaneously encumbers all of their first-round picks between
2024-2027 due to a combination of protections and the Stepien Rule. That
means, for the time being, the Heat are limited to just two tradable
first-round picks. See below.
- Miami's only positive-value matching salary is Tyler Herro. The Blazers already have Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe and Anfernee Simons in their backcourt. They likely aren't interested in adding an expensive young guard.
That last is a good point but so, look, you get a third or fourth team involved. You put in Duncan, if the "Blazers" don't want him or Tyler you ship either or both to another team to get somebody Portland wants. This is not rocket science for Riles and Andy Elisburg.
There's a simple workaround to that first problem. The Heat and Thunder have a very strong trading relationship, and they've already adjusted the protections on that pick once before. If both sides agreed to simply making that pick an unprotected 2026 selection, the Heat would then be able to give away three first-round picks: 2024, 2028 and 2030, along with swap rights in 2025, 2027 and 2029. That's probably not the trade package Portland would prefer, but it's something.
It's a shit load of picks, three additional firsts plus swap rights in the odd years, that's six added or improved picks in seven years!
The Herro problem is a bit harder to solve. The Heat and Blazers would need a third team, and finding a fit for Herro isn't especially easy. Very few teams are so thin at guard that they'd want to make a nine-figure commitment to Herro. ...
...Miami has a few potentially interesting trade sweeteners. Kyle Lowry's expiring deal might hold some value to Portland as a mentor to their young guards. Nikola Jovic and Jaime Jaquez make sense as front-court projects. There's a viable deal here even if the Blazers could probably do better elsewhere.
"Sweeteners"? A sweetener is something added to. If Sam Quinn means Kyle AND Jovic AND Jaime Jaquez ADDED TO Tyler and six picks Portland's going to get diabetes, they're not going to get all of that. More likely, Quinn means alternatives to "The Herro problem".
Brooklyn Nets
In an open bidding war, Miami would have no chance against Brooklyn.
I love counterfactual hypotheticals, I love them like I love root canal.
The Nets control Phoenix's first-round picks in 2025, 2027 and 2029. They have future picks from Dallas and Philadelphia as well, with that Dallas pick also unprotected. Oh, and starting in 2028, they control their own first-round picks again. Not only does that package include a high volume of picks, but those picks come from diverse sources as well. Portland would just need to hope that one of the Nets, Suns, Mavericks and 76ers flame out and they'd wind up with valuable assets. If several of those teams do? The Blazers would be looking at a haul.
Brooklyn could match salary with mostly expiring contracts (Spencer Dinwiddie, Patty Mills and Royce O'Neale). They could also potentially send out Ben Simmons if that's a project Portland is willing to take on.
Okay, fine Sam.
Of course, it's also worth asking if the Nets are ready to jump right back into the deep end with another superstar trade so quickly after their disastrous Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and James Harden experiment.
Yeah, it is worth asking that.
Brooklyn might prefer to wait and use those assets on someone a bit younger. They might prefer to simply build organically. The Nets can make a real run at Lillard if they want to. Whether or not they choose to do so comes down to their priorities.
Philadelphia 76ers
Only two days ago, the 76ers were on the wrong side of a superstar trade request when James Harden picked up his player option with the expectation that he would be moved. There were plenty of rumblings that Philadelphia wouldn't trade Harden to his preferred destination (the Clippers) for an underwhelming smattering of picks and veterans. No, Daryl Morey is a big-game hunter, and now, Lillard is in his sights.
Here is, essentially, the idea: Philadelphia would send Harden to the Clippers for some combination of their unprotected picks in 2028 and 2030, unprotected swaps in 2027 and 2029, promising youngster Terance Mann and a few of their expensive wings. They would then turn around and reroute some or all of those assets, along with their own ascending young guard in Tyrese Maxey, [Since Sam penned this analysis the "Sixers" have said they have NO INTEREST in trading Electric Maxey.] out to Portland in a package for Lillard. Now, this is where things get even harder. As we covered with Herro, the Blazers likely don't want another young guard. Therefore, we'd probably need a fourth team to make this work.
San Antonio Spurs
Here's the reported wild card in these discussions. ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reported that Lillard has a "deep respect" for the Spurs organization.
Whoa! That is wild. No one respects San Antonio, right?
Victor Wembanyama could help Lillard contend until he retires.
Ah, see Sam's drinking again. Dame wants out of Portland, which finished 13th in the West and didn't make the playoffs, so that he could go to Miami, who made the Finals, and compete for a title. So Dame would agree to go to San Antone which finished 15th, dead last, in the West? Dude, even if Wemby is the Second Coming the "Spurs" aren't winning a title in 2024 or 2025 at least.
The Spurs still have the cap space to go sign Brook Lopez as their starting center. They own future picks from the Bulls and Hawks from their previous trades of DeMar DeRozan and Dejounte Murray, respectively. Throw in their own future picks and the Spurs are among the most flexible teams on the trade market moving forward.
Here's the question: are the Spurs ready to go all-in right now, before they've even seen Wembanyama play? [No.] Remember, if he's as good as the basketball world expects him to be, he'll be able to recruit just about anyone to serve as his co-star. The Spurs could get someone younger. They could get someone at another position if they'd prefer. If the Spurs grab Lillard right now, they'd be sacrificing years of opportunities elsewhere. That's not a sacrifice to be undertaken lightly. San Antonio can get into the mix if it wants to, but it's up to them to decide if doing so would be worthwhile.
