Damian Lillard trade to rival Bucks is a colossal defeat for the Miami Heat and Pat Riley
...that giant L on the Heat today is borne on the neck of team president Pat Riley like a heavy yoke.
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...the Old Man and the Sea has lost another whale. And this one was casting for him, Lillard expressly saying he wanted only to be traded to Miami. Begging, demanding and all ways willing to end up with the Heat.
Lillard did everything but curl up inside a crate and have himself sent via Fed-Ex to the front steps of the arena on Biscayne Boulevard, delivery pre-paid. At age 78, the last hurrah of Riley’s championship-gilded Hall of Fame career was coming to him on a proverbial platter.
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Lillard should be standing with Jimmy Butler today.
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The Heat lost because Riley stood pat with his offer, taking the “laissez-faire” stance of a man whose team was good enough. ...
Riley’s offer was not bad, reportedly young star Tyler Herro and two first-round draft picks. But the Heat declined to sweeten the deal, and failed to engage a third team into discussions with Portland. And thus Miami watched from the sideline Wednesday as Portland engaged Phoenix close the deal and help win Lillard. (The Trail Blazers get a package led by Jrue Holiday and a first-round pick.)
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Miami watched as the Lillard-Antetokounmpo pairing instantly made the Bucks the new NBA championship favoritre at plus-360 odds, via Fan Duel. They had been third but leapfrogged the Boston Celtics and reigning champion Denver Nuggets. Miami title odds now stand 11th in the league and tied for fifth in the East. That’s also-ran territory. That’s next-expected-to-have-home-court-advantage-in-the-first round territory.
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Jimmy Butler is 34. He needs help now. Lillard, 33, would have provided it. Herro is 23. He’s a nice player. But if you’re thinking a run at Miami’s fourth franchise title and first since LeBron James left, give me a few years of Lillard over 10 more with Herro.
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Now, Lillard, the whale that got away, is the narrative. And poor Herro has to answer questions about how the team was looking to trade him. (Two key players from last season, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent, already have departed.)
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The Heat, post-LeBron, have not ended up signing mini-whales linked to them, like Bradley Beal, and major whales they never really had a shot at, like Kevin Durant. But Damian Lillard is in a category all his own. A genuine superstar who would have been a great fit, and made the Heat hugely better, and shot the season with adrenaline — and was begging to be here. Failing to make this happen is a loss that hurts, a loss big enough to dim the dawning season and loom over however short it might fall.
I would only add what I have written limitlessly for years: the "Heat" have not won a title in 10 years, not since LeBron left. Their average won-loss record over those nine years is 45-37. Miami was the shock of the NBA playoffs in 2023 but they got fairly blown out in the Finals. They only got to the playoffs as a play-in team that lost its first game. They were in that dire predicament because they were so out of sorts during the regular season. They even underperformed their nine-year average by one game, finishing 44-38. This endless repetition is all to make this point: This is the team that Riley considers good enough?! After losing Gabe Vincent and Max Strus?!
Association Commissioner Adam Silver has made it harder for the "Heat" to back in to the 'loffs in 2024 as it did in 2023. Adam has made the NBA regular season count more. Two stars can't be taking personal days off in the same game. Teams can't get around that rule by nominally suiting a star up and playing him garbage minutes. Full effort, full 82-games. That hurts Miami more than most teams because "Heat" Culture demands so much of them physically, mentally and emotionally. 601 Biscayne thought it learned a lesson from the 2021/22 team that finished with the best regular season record in the East and then lost the ECF in seven games to Beans. They played hard every damn game that season. Last season they did not. The commissioner's change makes it harder on the hardest-working "Heat" player, Jimmy Butler, who, at 33, ran out of gas even in the playoff sprint in 2023. Now he has to sprint the marathon 82-game regular season just to get to the playoffs. Without Dame. Without Vincent. Without Strus.
It's a very heavy L for the "Heat".
