Damian Lillard still has “serious interest” in joining Miami; trade request seems imminent

A Dame X Jimmy X Bam trio would instantly become one of, if not the best in the NBA.

Damian Lillard has been aggressively linked to the Miami Heat for around a month now. All over TV and social media you see analysts just salivating over a potential Lillard/Miami pairing, and for good reason.

Lillard is the dream star to have on this team. He is someone that is currently in an NBA championship window at 32 years old, similar to Jimmy Butler.

He has that competitive edge and “grind” to his work ethic that would clearly go nice with the culture that is built here.

Not only is Lillard just an All-Star caliber player, he is a tier 1 superstar. An All-NBA talent and one of the better scorers and closers in the history of the league.

This is a guy that just dropped over 70 points in a game last season, and now he can potentially join the reigning Eastern Conference Champions.

Just like Butler, the Heat acquiring the services of Lillard is yet another match made in heaven.

Lillard is hungry to win a title as soon as possible, and doesn’t want any part of a “rebuilding” phase in Portland at this stage of his career.

How much better of a chance could he get by joining a team that has been to 2 NBA Finals in the past 4 seasons?

Some say it’s too good to be true. Some say Lillard is too loyal, and can’t picture him requesting a trade out of Portland, where he has been his entire career.

The thing is though, if there is any time Lillard would want to finally start another chapter of his career and be in a winning environment; the time is now.

After Miami struck out on the Bradley Beal sweepstakes, who ended up landing in Phoenix, Chris Haynes reported that Miami has put all their focus on Lillard and the front office is optimistic he will request a trade.

Obviously there has been rumors of Lillard wanting out for a few years now. However, he hasn’t been this vocal about it until this year.

He mentioned on a podcast recently that Miami would be his preferred destination if he were to get dealt, specifically stating that the Heat would “obviously” be his first choice.

He reportedly wasn’t happy with the Blazers not trading their draft pick for an established All-Star caliber player either.

There has even been some teasing on social media, with Lillard listening to the song “welcome to Miami” on his instagram live and Jimmy Butler being active in recruiting the star to the 305.

A video was released not too long after the season ended with Butler in the gym knocking down shots and screaming “Dame time”!

There is clearly something going on with this situation.

Today, a couple new updates has surfaced regarding Lillard’s status and interest specifically in going to South Beach.

At this point, it is a waiting game. All Lillard has to do is request the trade, and then dominos can start to fall. Sadly, for now every Heat/Dame report is hypothetical, because he hasn’t officially requested out yet.

The thing that stands out in the most recent report though is that a trade request is “imminent”.

Imminent- about to happen. (definition from dictionary).

That is very encouraging to hear, and this is slowly but surely potentially becoming a classic move that has Pat Riley’s fingerprints all over it.

Acquiring disgruntled superstars has been Riley’s biggest strength throughout his career.

Damian Lillard could become the newest acquisition that absolutely falls under Riley’s “whale” category.