Pat Riley and the Miami Heat’s front office are reportedly working around the clock to try and get Damian Lillard to South Beach.
Lillard has made it loud and clear that he wants to play side-by-side with Jimmy Butler, but the Heat don’t have the assets it takes to pull off a deal, and the Portland Trail Blazers are reportedly not interested in getting Tyler Herro.
However, multiple other teams could be willing to give up a “good first-round pick” to acquire Herro, according to a report by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (via NBA Central).
Teams are interested in trading a ‘good first-round pick’ for Tyler Herro, per @wojespn
“There are teams that have told ESPN they would surrender a good first-round pick to the Blazers — maybe something more — to become a facilitator by taking on Herro in a three-way deal.” pic.twitter.com/rc7OcYWHbI
— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) July 6, 2023
Herro is one of the rising stars in the league, and while he has failed to live up to the expectations after that impressive rookie season, he’s still a 20-points-per-game scorer and an efficient shooter from all three levels.
The Heat even refused to give up on him multiple times earlier in his career, and they would love to keep him and also get Lillard, but that’s just not realistic.
Not every day a player of Damian Lillard’s caliber requests to be traded and also happens to want to join your team, so the Heat will have to take this blow for the greater good.
As for Herro, a change of scenery might just be what he needs to take another step in his development and break out as the superstar scoring machine some believe he could be one day, and it’ll be interesting to see where he ends up once this saga is over.
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NBA Analyst Highlights Undrafted Players Who Thrived With The Heat