Damian Lillard trade to rival Bucks is a colossal defeat for the Miami Heat and Pat Riley | Opinion
Most everybody loses in the weird, protracted drama that was Damian Lillard’s monthslong maneuvering to get out of Portland.
But nobody loses in all this quite like the Miami Heat loses, and by extension that giant L on the Heat today is borne on the neck of team president Pat Riley like a heavy yoke.
The degrees of perception to reality hardly matter. All that does is that the Old Man and the Sea has lost another whale. And this one was casting for him, Lillard expressly saying he wanted only to be traded to Miami. Begging, demanding and all ways willing to end up with the Heat.
Lillard did everything but curl up inside a crate and have himself sent via Fed-Ex to the front steps of the arena on Biscayne Boulevard, delivery pre-paid.
At age 78, the last hurrah of Riley’s championship-gilded Hall of Fame career was coming to him on a proverbial platter.
How could anything possibly go wrong ... right?
The worst thing did Wednesday.
That’s when Lillard was traded not to Miami, but to Eastern Conference rival Milwaukee to join forces with Giannis Antetokounmpo, the best big man in the game suddenly festooned with a superstar 32-point scorer in Lillard. (In one game he had 71 points, even outscoring the Miami Dolphins by one!)
Lillard should be standing with Jimmy Butler today.
A disappointed Butler went on social media to declare, “Yo, NBA, man, y’all need to look into the Bucks for tampering. You do. You didn’t hear it from me, I heard it from somebody.”
Serious, joking or just frustration for what Butler and his title hopes had just lost, suffice to say the NBA and the Bucks likely are not amused.
The Heat lost because Riley stood pat with his offer, taking the “laissez-faire” stance of a man whose team was good enough. It reached the NBA Finals last season and would not be desperate to mess with that even for Lillard.
Riley’s offer was not bad, reportedly young star Tyler Herro and two first-round draft picks. But the Heat declined to sweeten the deal, and failed to engage a third team into discussions with Portland.
And thus Miami watched from the sideline Wednesday as Portland engaged Phoenix close the deal and help win Lillard. (The Trail Blazers get a package led by Jrue Holiday and a first-round pick.)
When I said at the top most everybody loses in this drama, I meant:
Lillard loses in failing to get to the team that was his expressed destination. All well and good that he tweeted Wednesday, “Excited for my next chapter!” with an @Bucks at the end. This is not what he asked for or wanted.
Milwaukee obviously wins but loses in the sense it gets a reluctant star who lobbied hard to go elsewhere.
The NBA loses in this whole matter, so much so it had to write a threatening letter advising all players they must adhere to their collective bargaining agreement and give full effort to any team employing them.
But the Heat lead all the losing by a lot.
Miami watched as the Lillard-Antetokounmpo pairing instantly made the Bucks the new NBA championship favoritre at plus-360 odds, via Fan Duel. They had been third but leapfrogged the Boston Celtics and reigning champion Denver Nuggets. Miami title odds now stand 11th in the league and tied for fifth in the East.
That’s also-ran territory. That’s next-expected-to-have-home-court-advantage-in-the-first round territory.
Miami (and not just because Riley is 78) should be in win-now mode.
Jimmy Butler is 34. He needs help now. Lillard, 33, would have provided it.
Herro is 23. He’s a nice player. But if you’re thinking a run at Miami’s fourth franchise title and first since LeBron James left, give me a few years of Lillard over 10 more with Herro.
The Heat open training camp for the new season this coming Tuesday.
Introducing Lillard there would have shot the place with electricity, hopes up in the rafters.
The Heat might have announced the trade for him Wednesday. Instead, Wednesday, the Heat announced the signing of a person named Cheick Diallo.
Now, Lillard, the whale that got away, is the narrative. And poor Herro has to answer questions about how the team was looking to trade him. (Two key players from last season, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent, already have departed.)
Meanwhile team leaders Butler and Bam Adebayo and coach Erik Spoelstra must spin it all positive, as if not ending up with the 32-point scorer who was begging to play for you is no big deal.
The Heat, post-LeBron, have not ended up signing mini-whales linked to them, like Bradley Beal, and major whales they never really had a shot at, like Kevin Durant.
But Damian Lillard is in a category all his own.
A genuine superstar who would have been a great fit, and made the Heat hugely better, and shot the season with adrenaline — and was begging to be here.
Failing to make this happen is a loss that hurts, a loss big enough to dim the dawning season and loom over however short it might fall.
What might have been in Miami right now: Dame!
What is instead: Damn.
This story was originally published September 27, 2023 at 7:53 PM.
