Portland Trail Blazers superstar point guard Damian Lillard was smiling and laughing to the sounds of Will Smith’s famous song, “Miami,” on Instagram Live, and many NBA fans thought the seven-time All-Star was getting traded to the Miami Heat. However, his agent said that wasn’t the case.
“The music was just a coincidence,” Aaron Goodwin told Sam Amick of The Athletic. “Damian’s not disrespectful. He’s not an instigator, so he’s not going to do anything out of character. There would be no reason for him to do that. That’s why he laughed (in the video). It’s a funny coincidence that a DJ would put that on.”
The Heat are very interested in acquiring Lillard from the Blazers. They believe they can win a championship next season with Lillard, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo leading the way. Miami is so enamored with Lillard that the front office didn’t pursue Bradley Beal that hard.
Pat Riley wanted to save his assets for Lillard, who has a close relationship with Adebayo.
The Blazers drafted Scoot Henderson with the third overall pick in the 2023 draft. It was believed that Lillard wanted Portland to trade the pick for a star. However, Beal was the only All-Star player available in trade talks.
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers & Miami Heat Updates
A future Hall of Famer, Lillard signed a two-year, $121.8 million maximum veteran extension in July 2022. Portland general manager Joe Cronin told Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports that he wants to maximize Lillard’s timeline.
“We’re a team that’s trying to win and trying to maximize Damian’s timeline. This was an important night for us,” Cronin told Yahoo Sports. “Front offices around the league think highly of this draft, so you would think that a lot of teams that were sitting (on stage) tonight will be getting a lot of calls from teams trying to move up and maneuver.”
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers & Miami Heat Updates
The Heat will probably call the Blazers a bunch of times moving forward. However, it doesn’t appear Portland is going to trade its franchise star unless Lillard requests a trade.
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