Report: Blazers 'still not' negotiating with Heat regarding Damian Lillard
Lillard's trade request is now a month old.
It’s been nearly one month since Damian Lillard’s trade request from the Portland Trail Blazers, with the Miami Heat atop the list of Lillard’s preferred destinations. But the Blazers’ front office still isn’t attempting to negotiate with the Heat, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
“Per source, Portland has remained disinclined to engage Heat in serious trade discussions on Lillard,” Jackson wrote in a tweet Monday. “Blazers acting disinterested about dealing him here. One would think Blazers would get serious about this at some point, but they're still not engaging Miami in negotiations.”
Portland has been open about wanting the Miami Heat’s top offer, though the Heat has been unwilling to bet against themselves unless another team is willing to fly in and try to poach Lillard from Portland. But, at this stage, that’s not happening because of any possible risk of Lillard not wanting to play for the Heat.
Earlier this month, Bleacher Report NBA insider Chris Haynes reported the “communication” from the two parties has been nonexistent, saying things “could be moving on a little bit quicker” if Portland was open about “exactly” what they wanted.
On Monday, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that the Heat have been “preparing” an offer that includes 3-4 first-round picks (the Heat could open up four by acquiring another unprotected 2025 pick, as Miami Heat Beat’s Brian Goins beautifully outlines here), draft swaps, second-round picks, young player(s), expiring contracts (a.k.a. Kyle Lowry) and ship Tyler Herro to a third team, likely to facilitate extra first-round picks plus another asset.
Unless the ball gets rolling, while we don’t know what the Heat’s current offer is, it’s unlikely that it’s close to superseding the aforementioned one.
Who’s will budge first for the 33-year-old All-NBA guard, who’s coming off arguably the best offensive season of his career by averaging 32.2 points on 64.5 percent true shooting? Let us know in the comments below!
This is a developing story. Stay tuned for updates.
Loving all the delusional Blazer fans coming in here acting as if they're running this deal themselves and talking smack about how lucky Miami has been when their shitty franchise hasn't come close to touching our success in the last 15 years. It's time for Dame to be apart of a legitimate organization.
This is all about Portland not caving to a players demand. They want to have the upper hand and have the narrative that teams get the final say and superstars will not dictate anything. They will work with any team outside of Miami. However the message was already delivered to the league that Dame will not be happy on any other team, so no team is calling Portland.
Portland is not even telling Miami what they want so they can’t get other teams involved in a larger trade. It has come down to Portland will work with any team but it can’t under any circumstance involve Miami.
Thus - we got an eternal stalemate until Portland blinks and decides to end the madness and grow up.