Report: Heat growing frustrated with Blazers over Damian Lillard situation

Mar 19, 2023; Portland, Oregon, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (0) participates in warmups before playing LA Clippers at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports

The Portland Trail Blazers’ approach to Damian Lillard’s trade demand is starting to wear thin on the team with the most interest in acquiring him.

Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes said on the “#thisleague Uncut” podcast with Marc Stein that the Miami Heat are growing frustrated with the Blazers’ approach to Lillard trade talks. The Heat want to know precisely what they need to offer in order to get Portland to part with Lillard, but the Blazers supposedly have not been forthcoming with an answer.

“Obviously the Miami Heat, they’re a bit frustrated with how things are moving along slowly,” Haynes said, via Kurt Helin of NBC Sports. “Portland is telling them to, ‘Bring us your best offer.’ Miami would like to know what does Portland want and Miami is not getting that answer. And so they feel like things could be moving on a little bit quicker if Portland would say exactly what it is they want.

“Because obviously, Miami doesn’t have all the assets that Portland would want in a return for a Damian little trade. So they want to know, okay, what do we have to get out there? What other teams what other teams do we have to get involved to make this work? And so far, the communication is just not there.”

Lillard has asked the Blazers to trade him, and he has named the Heat as his preferred destination. The Blazers want the best possible return, which may be why they are trying to slow-walk things. There are even some claims that the Blazers might just be buying time to try to repair their relationship with Lillard.

The Blazers’ desire to avoid giving Lillard away is understandable, and it makes sense that they would not want to trade him. However, the situation may become untenable at some point. Admittedly, if the only thing that comes out of this is that it frustrates the Heat, that probably is not much of a negative from Portland’s perspective.