NBA Trade Rumors: The Portland Trail Blazers want the Miami Heat to make their best offer for Damian Lillard, which they haven’t.
The Damian Lillard saga continues. And this week, we got a little more clarification on what may be going on behind the scenes.
Week started with the report that the Miami Heat have made an offer to the Portland Trail Blazers (which probably looks like something along the lines of Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson and two future first-round picks) and aren’t willing to trade against themselves. It is now being reported, this time by The Athletic’s Shams Charania, that the Blazers want the Heat to give them their “Best offer” to bring Portland to the negotiating table.
It also echoed that the Heat and Blazers haven’t really sat down to negotiate much and the teams are really feeling this whole process. There has been no traction on a deal and there’s no guarantee it can be done without both teams coming to the table, unless a serious third suitor finally comes to the table with Portland.
What does all this mean for the Heat and Blazers?
If I had to guess what happened between the Heat and the Blazers, based on everything that’s been reported recently, here’s my guess:
- The Heat have made an offer and are not willing to bid against themselves.
- The Blazers think the Heat offer is a joke and don’t think Miami is being serious/fair in the discussions.
- The Blazers don’t think it’s worth sitting down with the Heat if they’re not going to take this process “seriously.”
- The Heat, for now, are fine waiting for the Blazers to come out until they are ready to sit down and negotiate.
- The Blazers are waiting for the Heat to get serious and are playing the waiting game.
- Eventually, either the Heat or the Blazers will give up.
Right now, both teams have the luxury of time. Eventually though, for both teams, that’s something that’s going to go away. Although they may be “willing” to enter training camp with Lillard on the roster, that’s far from an ideal scenario.
Miami may not feel pressured to make a more significant offer right now, but that likely will have to change as training camp approaches.
In the end, both teams know that this is something they must do. Maybe both offices will take their vacation and come back in August to straighten things out. The last thing any of these franchises want to do is go into the regular season with this situation hanging over their heads.
You would have to imagine that eventually something will be done between the Heat and the Blazers regarding Dame. It’s just a question of when.
- Posted on 07/18/2023 at 20:06
- Last update on 07/18/2023 at 20:06 pm
