Vincent Frank
The Miami Heat find themselves just one win away from eliminating the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of this year’s NBA Playoffs.
Miami inched into the postseason after finding its way out of the NBA Play-In Tournament. No one really gave Erik Spoelstra and Co. a chance against the top-seeded Bucks. However, an unfortunate injury to Giannis Antetokounmpo coupled with Jimmy Butler’s 56-point performance in Game 4 has Miami up 3-1 heading into Wednesday’s game.
This isn’t stopping longtime front office head Pat Riley from looking to the future. Miami won just 44 games during the regular season and finished as the lowest-scoring team in the Association at 109.5 points per game. Regardless of how the remainder of the postseason plays out, we fully expect the Heat to target another scorer to go with Butler.
According to this note from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, one future Hall of Famer could be a target of the Heat.
“I think the Heat are on the cusp of looking for another star maneuver. I would put them on the list for Dame Lillard if Dame ends up getting traded. If he goes to market, I think the Heat are on that list. I don’t know if they have enough.”
Report on Miami Heat interest in Damian Lillard trade
There is certainly going to be a lot of talk about Dame potentially requesting a trade from the Blazers during the NBA offseason. They are coming off a disastrous 49-loss season in which they tanked in the end. That included “resting” Lillard.
Lillard has made it clear on more than one occasion that a trade request could be in the cards if Portland doesn’t make a larger commitment to short-term contention. At 32 years old and as one of the most-loyal players in the Association, he has more than earned this right.
Related: Putting Jimmy Butler’s 56-point performance for the Miami Heat into perspective
Do the Miami Heat have enough assets to acquire Damien Lillard?
This is going to be a question several contending teams ask themselves during the summer. It also depends heavily on what a rebuilding Portland team wants back in a potential blockbuster. That is to say, young players or draft picks. Perhaps, general manager Joe Cronin looks for a combination of the two.
Either way, Miami might just have enough to get this done. That includes being able to offer up two future unprotected first-round picks in 2027 and 2029. If the deal were made after the 2023 NBA Draft, Miami could also pick for Portland and send said player to the Pacific Northwest.
It’s somewhat similar to what the Minnesota Timberwolves did last summer in drafting Walker Kessler before moving him to the Utah Jazz in the Rudy Gobert blockbuster. From there, a pick swap or two could be in the cards.
As for the meat and bones, any move would likely require Miami sending 2022 first-round pick Nikola Jovic and former NBA Sixth Man of the Year Tyler Herro to Portland. Veteran point guard Kyle Lowry would also have to be involved in order to make the salaries work.
The idea of having Butler and Damian Lillard team up in the Miami Heat backcourt might be attractive for Riley to pass up on. The Hall of Famer has not been afraid to mortgage the future in win-now moves. Regardless of what happens during the remainder of the playoffs, we expect that to be the case again this summer.
