Dame Watch: Latest on Damian Lillard, Miami Heat and third-team negotiations

The latest updates regarding Damian Lillard’s trade request and the Miami Heat…

Analysis: Joe Cronin’s Public Posturing

Now that Lillard’s widely-anticipated trade request has become official, we have entered the negotiation stage of the superstar trade.

Blazers GM Joe Cronin is publicly claiming that he will canvas the league for the best offers, knowing Lillard’s preference is to be directed to Miami. I get it. That’s his job. The general manager cannot appear to roll over and trade the greatest player in franchise history simply because he asked without trying to wring all he could out of a return package.

Calls are being made across the NBA, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that Lillard wants the Heat and that there are few other offers that measure up to the superstar-level returns that Brooklyn got for Kevin Durant or Utah got for Rudy Gobert over the last 12 months.

Miami’s offer is built around Herro, Duncan Robinson, first-round picks in 2028 and 2030 and perhaps pick swaps and other young players. On it’s face, that doesn’t seem like a worthwhile package for Portland, but it could be the best it gets.

The Clippers can only offer a single first-round pick, expiring contracts and a young player such as Terence Mann or Bones Hyland. That doesn’t beat Miami’s offer. The Celtics have been an oft-rumored suitor, but trading Jaylen Brown could be a non-starter and a package of Robert Williams III, Malcolm Brogdon, Payton Pritchard and three first-round picks isn’t much better. The Heat could unlock a third first-round pick by renegotiating protections on their 2025 pick owed to Oklahoma City. If Philadelphia does put Maxey on the table, things could get interesting. But, similar to Herro, how much value would Maxey, a small guard, have for the Blazers when they already have Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe and Anfernee Simons?

My read on all of this: The sticking point is finding a third team to take Herro, and negotiating what would go back to Portland in such a deal. Perhaps all of Cronin’s posturing forces the Heat to unlock and include a third first-round pick. If all he does is get an extra asset out of the Heat while appearing to put up a fight for Blazers fans, then he has done his job. This page is straight out of the superstar trade playbook.

Lillard is not in Miami yet, and anything can still happen, but the sense around the league is that Lillard will be playing for the Heat.