It took over two months, but the Portland Trail Blazers and General Manager Joe Cronin were finally able to find a suitable trade for franchise superstar Damian Lillard. Despite Dame’s wishes to be dealt only to the Miami Heat, Cronin and the rest of the Blazers brass were unimpressed by Miami’s prospective package — rumored to include two future first-round picks and Tyler Herro.
Lillard even went so far as to have his agent leak to other teams that he’d be unhappy anywhere else aside from Miami. Even with all of that aiding in their conquest, the Heat were unable to convince Portland to send Dame their way.
Whether it be due to their inability to find a suitable third party to help facilitate the deal or an unwillingness to send the farm, the Heat failed. A member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team — one of the 75 greatest players in league history — demanded a trade to their organization and their organization only, and they couldn’t get it done.
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Coming off of a Cinderella run from the Play-In Tournament to the NBA Finals, Miami had all of the momentum on their side and missed out on their chance to add one of the greatest talents to have ever touched a basketball despite being the odds-on favorites to do so.
Not only did the Heat fail to add Lillard, their prolonged strife with the Trail Blazers put a hold on all of their offseason dealings, causing them to miss out on impactful free agents such as Christian Wood and Kelly Oubre.
Now, they’re looking at going into next season severely weakened compared to their roster last year that made the Finals.
Gone are Max Strus and Gabe Vincent, two of their most valuable role players from last season. With Dame off the table, Miami has to work quickly to find a way to maximize the roster around an aging Jimmy Butler.
They still have all of the assets that they made available to move for Dame. Could those pieces potentially be rerouted for a different playmaker?
| 22-2023 Stats | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Damian Lillard | Pts | FG% | Ast |
 |
46.3 | 7.6 | |
| 3rd | 77th | 10th | |
James Harden is still looking for a new home. Chris Paul never felt like he would be with the Golden State Warriors for very long.Aside from pivoting to a different trade, the Heat’s other main source of improvement could be from their young prospects.
Nikola Jovic impressed in his FIBA run with the Serbian National Team, and Jaime Jaquez had flashes in Summer League. Tyler Herro is still young and could prove to be worth building around with more responsibility in this next season.
Nickname this duo pic.twitter.com/jJjSpWibhl
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) October 11, 2023
| Title: The Miami Heat are the greatest losers of the 2023 NBA offseason
| Author: Andy Quach
| Date: Oct 13th, 2023
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