Go for it. Get him. Whatever must be negotiated, however much is to be paid, the Miami Heat have to go all-in after Damian Lillard now that he told the Portland Trail Blazers he wants to be traded.
Heat president Pat Riley talked at the start of this offseason of possibly forming the “fifth iteration” of this roster since he arrived.
Lillard is that iteration.
Combined with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, he could form The Next Generation Big Three. That’s a core with the chance to win a title now. As in right now. Wouldn’t Lillard’s 32.2 point average have helped a Heat team that couldn’t score in the NBA Finals against Denver?
That lovable Heat team is kaput now. Max Strus followed the money to Cleveland on Saturday. Gabe Vincent did to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. Good for them, too. They built careers from undrafted nobodies. They earned these paydays.
Now a different day has dawned for the Heat, one where they have a chance to rely less on undrafted players they’ve developed. Now they can do it the surer way, too. It’s the one they rode to their three championships.
Now they have to go hard after a seven-time All-NBA player who can take over games by himself and turns 33 on July 15. He wants out of Portland because they’ve missed the playoffs the past two years and are on a youth kick.
Wanting Lillard isn’t the same as getting him, of course. The Heat have to offer a potpourri of draft picks and anyone off the roster beyond Butler or Adebayo. That’s right. Anyone at all. Everyone, if need be.
Tyler Herro? Sorry, he’s the first one in the trade. You have to give Portland something. This isn’t the Bradley Beal deal where little talent was offered because his overweight contract had a no-trade clause. (A better guess is the Heat didn’t push the pedal for Beal because they figured Lillard was likely to be traded.)
Caleb Martin? The hope would be to keep him if you trade Herro. Martin would fit perfect on a this new team, the utility understudy who can score, defend and create big moments of his own. Think: Shane Battier on the Big Three Heat.
The question becomes if Lillard wants the Heat as much as the Heat want Lillard. They’ve be batting eyes across the country for a while. This has become a league where the stars dictate where they want to go even without no-trade clauses. Just look at Butler coming to a Heat team that had no salary-cap money — or simply follow James Harden’s career.
There’s risk here, as in any trade for a thirtysomething star. The Heat would be giving up some future for a lot of present. Lillard scored 71 points in a game last year. When Butler takes his 20 games off next season, Lillard will be the show. And vice versa. Who wouldn’t sign on for that?
Lillard’s trade request doesn’t come out of nowhere. He’s as popular in Portland as Dwyane Wade in South Florida, a Trail Blazer lifer. Portland will want to do him right in a trade. The Heat has a good pitch for him, too:
“We have a couple of stars for you to join. We have a coach at the top of the game. We have a front office headlined by a legend that’s built championship teams for decades. You have no time to waste in your career and we don’t waste time in chasing titles.”
There could be a multiplier effect, too, as when LeBron James came to the Heat. No, Lillard isn’t LeBron. Who is? But the idea still works of a proven star joining a good team looking for some veteran role players. That script is a known one.
Would Lillard be enough to win the East? This will be the debate until next spring. Milwaukee will be on a revenge tour. The Boston Celtics got 7-foot-3 Kristaps Porzingis at the cost of spiritual centerpiece Marcus Smart. The New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers are still figuring out their offseasons.
All you know is this is the best way for the Heat to challenge right now. Compared to the involved sorcery of developing players over time, Lillard is a sure thing. He’d be the latest version of Shaquille O’Neal coming here, The Big Three forming here.
Do it. Go get him. Whatever the cost, he’s the best option for the Heat.
