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For months, it felt like a foregone conclusion that the Miami Heat were going to pry Damian Lillard away from the Portland Trail Blazers.
Shortly after the Heat lost in the NBA Finals to the Denver Nuggets, Lillard formally requested a trade and named the Heat as his preferred landing spot.
The fit between Miami and Lillard made plenty of sense as the team struggled to score during prolonged stretches and the guard has never been a plus defender in his career.
With a natural need for each other, the Heat were perceived to be the favorites to acquire the All-NBA guard before the Blazers decided to send him to the Milwaukee Bucks in a blockbuster three-team trade that included the Phoenix Suns.
Instead of playing alongside Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, Lillard gets the opportunity to team up with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton.
It was shocking not to see the Heat end up with Lillard, though it makes sense why they didn’t get him as Pat Riley reportedly never tried to improve their offer via Barry Jackson of Miami Herald.
Pat Riley never called Portland back to improve his trade offer for Damian Lillard, per @flasportsbuzz pic.twitter.com/J4sLGwikqi
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) September 27, 2023
The Heat’s best offer included Tyler Herro, additional outgoing salary, and draft compensation and it sounds like Riley wasn’t willing to move off of that for whatever reason.
For a team that just made the Finals, the expectation was they would move whatever was necessary to have Lillard on their roster.
Regardless, Miami now has to work with who they currently have though it wouldn’t be completely shocking if they found themselves in the mix for the next disgruntled star.
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