Portland Trail Blazers Reportedly Never Entertained Miami Heat's Offer For Damian Lillard
With so fans anticipating Damian Lillard in a Miami Heat jersey this season, the wave of emotions are starting to come out. The biggest question many have is: How?
How did a surefire deal flame out and curve to the Milwaukee Bucks? Well, apparently the Portland Trail Blazers' interest hindered any conversations, per NBA inside Shams Charania.
“Dame believed he had the good will there," Charania said on an episode of the Pat McAfee Show. "11 seasons there, a top 75 player of all time, he spent his whole career there. He felt like he earned the right to dictate where he was gonna go. But Portland did not seem interested in really engaging with the Miami Heat. I’m told, on one of the initial calls, they asked for either Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler. Obviously, that’s not going to go anywhere. In talking to people around the Heat, I think they just didn’t feel like the Blazers had any interest in really dealing with them, and they weren’t interested in their package.”
Charania said the stalled conversations eventually opened the door for Milwaukee.
“That never got any traction," Charania said. "Damian Lillard did have some say in this, him and his agent. They told Milwaukee, ‘Trade for him if you want, Dame would be fine going there.’ It was gonna be a matter of whether Dame would want to go there, and would a team want to take him on with his contract. Once his agent gave Milwaukee the green light, Milwaukee went all in, trading Jrue Holiday, a first [round pick] and a couple swaps. They really changed the entire landscape of the NBA because this has an impact on Giannis’ future.”
Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside the Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at or follow him on TikTok @jaydenarmant.
