Report: Heat only have 2 untouchable players in Damian Lillard trade talks
Sep 22, 2017; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat president Pat Riley address reporters during a press conference at AmericanAirlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
The Miami Heat are desperate to acquire Damian Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers, and a new report suggests the team is willing to make nearly its entire roster available to facilitate a trade.
In an appearance on NBATV, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel suggested that the Heat would be willing to offer up anyone on the roster except for two players in order to try to make something work with Portland.
“The Heat are all-in on this. This is their moment.”@IraHeatBeat with the latest on Damian Lillard's trade request from the Portland Trail Blazers pic.twitter.com/tLWxVUO6mA
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“Put it this way: they basically have loaded up one of those Pods dumpsters in front of the Trail Blazers and said ‘Take anyone out of here you want besides Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler,'” Winderman said. “Maybe they’ll go back and forth on Caleb Martin a little, but it’s basically sort of ‘come and pick and choose and tell us what you want. Anything else is yours.'”
Guard Tyler Herro is almost certain to be a part of any Lillard trade from Miami’s perspective. Previous reports suggested that the Heat would prefer to keep Martin, but if the Blazers are insistent on his inclusion, it sounds like they would relent.
Lillard wants to go to the Heat, so it is fundamentally up to the Blazers at this stage. The lingering question is whether Portland feels it can get a bigger package elsewhere as they shop Lillard around the league.
