The Portland Trail Blazers are “refusing” to talk to the Miami Heat about a Damian Lillard trade, according to NBA insider Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report.
Lillard is close friends with Heat center Bam Adebayo and believes he can win an NBA championship in Miami playing alongside Jimmy Butler and Adebayo. The Heat have been working on a trade package for Lillard of expiring contracts, three to four first-round picks and one of the team’s younger players, with Tyler Herro going to a third team. The deal could potentially also involve second-rounders and draft pick swaps.
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Damian Lillard, Miami Heat, Portland Trail Blazers Updates
Lillard requested to be traded from the Blazers to only the Heat on July 1. He has spent all 11 seasons of his NBA career with Portland, which selected him with the sixth pick in the 2012 NBA Draft. The Blazers finished 33-49 and 13th in the Western Conference last season.
It appears a third team will need to get involved for Lillard to land with the Heat.
Lillard was a guest on the BACKONFIGG show on YouTube and he talked about why he requested a trade from the Blazers. Lillard, who has spent his entire NBA career with the Blazers, said he and Portland don’t want the same thing anymore.
“It’s a way that you have to go about things where you can’t be an idiot,” Lillard, one of the best players in NBA history, said. “You say I’m gonna stay down, I’m gonna ride till the wheels fall off and all that stuff. I don’t have to prove that to nobody, like I’ve shown it. I mean that in my heart. But that’s like me and you saying no matter what happens we ain’t telling on each other. Ya know, I’m saying we never tell on each other. And then the day comes where I’m still playing by those same rules.
“Like man, you want the same thing? We’re gonna go out together and then that ain’t the code you want to live by no more,” Lillard, one of the top shooters in NBA history, added. “So when that happens, you can’t be how it was. … You don’t want the same thing no more and you show me that you don’t want the same thing. We don’t want the same thing.”
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Damian Lillard, Miami Heat, Portland Trail Blazers Updates
An NBA legend, Lillard averaged 32.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 7.3 assists last season for the Blazers. He will make $46.6 million next season. Lillard signed a two-year, $121.8 million extension with Portland in July 2022.
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