How could any true Miami Heat fan ever forget about the summer of 2023? More known as the “Dame saga”, the Heat had all the power to pull off an acquisition that could have led to an instant championship. However, Pat Riley didn’t play his cards right with the stubborn Portland Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin in negotiations.
Shortly after the 2022-23 campaign ended, a season that featured an eighth seed Heat pull off an improbable run to the NBA Finals for the second time in four years, Lillard was linked to the Heat at the very beginning of the summer. Top NBA insider Shams Charania was the first to release the news that stated Lillard was demanding a trade out of Portland and had Miami specifically as his top desired landing spot. Ultimately, the long anticipated deal came crumbling down on Riley and the Heat.
Trade talks between Riley and Cronin went nowhere for months, and Lillard wound up being forcefully sent to the Milwaukee Bucks. Similar to the Heat, Milwaukee suffered serious injury problems come playoff time this past season, including Lillard. As top heavy as they looked on paper with a generational duo of him and Giannis Antetokounmpo, it is fair to say that they put together an underwhelming season together.
Even prior to the Bucks injury struck postseason, they went through challenges all through the regular season. This included a coaching change from Adrian Griffin to Doc Rivers around the halfway point of the year. The Rivers addition made the Bucks look pretty inconsistent in the win column, to say the least.
With all this being said, another ESPN insider in Zach Lowe recently linked Lillard back to the Heat, stating that if Miami were to make a move that they could potentially “circle back” on him.
“I bet you Miami would revisit the failed Dame talks. What am I getting back to make [Giannis Antetokounmpo] happy (if I am the Bucks) if that’s my concern? If I am here for the long haul, you need to recoup some draft picks, Tyler Herro—whatever fake Dame trade return you want to speculate about…” (- Zach Lowe/The Bill Simmons Podcast)
It’s important to note here that Lowe’s comments were not an official report. It was simply hypothetical in the sense that if both Miami and Milwaukee go through struggles again, he wouldn’t rule out another run at Lillard. After all, South Beach was where Lillard wanted to be in the first place. The Heat clearly had mutual interest in making that happen, until running into Cronin and his antics.
Riley does have a history of circling back to players he failed to land in the past, along with attaining disgruntled stars. A trade like this is up his alley, regardless if it’s over a year past due. Lillard is still a legitimate All-Star in this league, earning the honor for the eighth time in his career last season. He put up 24.3 points, 7.0 assists and 4.4 rebounds on 42% shooting and 35% from 3-point range across 73 games for Milwaukee.
At this point, Miami is starring at a future that has a lot of question marks. Jimmy Butler’s impending free agent decision along with other glaring issues that could come to fruition (availability/underperforming), puts Riley in a position where he really has nothing to lose. Maybe an overdue Lillard pairing could bring the Heat back to true contender status for a two-year window; possibly even favorites.
Or, maybe a Lillard pairing is too little too late, considering he is also going into an age-35 season like Butler.
***
To check out our other content, click here.
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Twitter/X here!
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Instagram here!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!