- Trail Blazers shocked the world by refusing to honor Damian Lillard’s trade request
- Lillard’s agent gets real on where things went wrong between Miami and Portland
- NBA could investigate the Lillard trade due to tampering allegations
It has been known since day one that Damian Lillard wanted to play for the Miami Heat, but those dreams were crushed on Wednesday after he was sent to the Bucks in a blockbuster three-team deal. While Lillard seems to be coming to grips with his new situation, his agent, Aaron Goodwin, decided to take one last swing at the Blazers on his way out.
Speaking with Miami insider Anthony Chiang, Lillard’s agent dropped his reaction to the trade and suggested that it was the Trail Blazers who ultimately prevented the deal from happening. “They did everything they could to acquire Dame,” said Goodwin. “It takes two to get a deal done. I appreciate all that Pat, Andy, and Micky did to try and make this happen.”
There’s no question that the Heat wanted to pick up Lillard, but to say they did everything they could is a bit misleading. While some of the details of the trade are still unknown, it has been reported that the Heat were unwilling to make their best offer, which would have included Tyler Herro, Caleb Martin, Nikola Jovic, and several first-round picks. At one point, it was revealed that they “dared” the Blazers to find a better deal.
It Was Miami Or Bust For Damian Lillard
Damian Lillard promised to request a trade again if he wasn’t sent to the Heat, but he has yet to renew his trade demand since joining the Bucks. The truth is, with four years on his contract, Damian will have to play out his deal in Milwaukee if he wants to keep his NBA career alive.
For Dame, who wanted to join the Heat from day one, this is hardly the outcome he was hoping for and it remains to be seen if he’ll give his best effort with his new team. For the Blazers, they probably got the best package they could have given the situation but they may have damaged their relationship with Lillard by not honoring his request to trade him to Miami.
Only time will tell how this deal plays out for all involved, but everyone got what they wanted except the Miami Heat. Damian gets to play alongside Giannis and compete for a title, the Blazers get a young big man to support their rebuild, and the Suns get a veteran center in Jusuf Nurkic to back up Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.
What Went Wrong For The Heat?
Pat Riley has always excelled at landing big stars in the past. Back in 2011, he welcomed LeBron James and Chris Bosh to his team, and in 2019 he welcomed a return to contention with Jimmy Butler’s arrival. This summer, Riley was hoping to add Damian Lillard and form the ultimate Heat superteam but it just wasn’t meant to be.
If you ask Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro, there was tampering behind the scenes that led to the Bucks making this trade but those claims have yet to be confirmed. Instead, we can surmise that Miami Heat GM Pat Riley probably dropped the ball in trade negotiations.
Believing they were the only team pursuing Lillard, Riley took a risk by lowballing the Trail Blazers and it’s a decision he may come to regret. The Heat will obviously still be competitive with Butler and Bam, but their path through the East just got exponentially harder now that Giannis and Damian Lillard have joined forces.
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