Heat mailbag: Will Damian Lillard waiting game produce a trade before camp?
The Miami Herald’s Heat mailbag is here to answer your pressing offseason questions. If you weren’t able to ask this time, send your questions for future mailbags via Twitter (@Anthony_Chiang). You can also email them in to achiang@miamiherald.com.
@jthefox101: Do you think Portland is trying to not trade Damian Lillard this offseason?
Anthony Chiang: Trying NOT to trade Lillard? I don’t think that’s the case. My feeling is the Trail Blazers just believe they should get a a similar package to what the Brooklyn Nets got for Kevin Durant and the New Orleans Pelicans got for Anthony Davis. In other words, they want a lot for Lillard, and no team has met that asking price yet.
But your question is fair. As of late last week, the Trail Blazers have been reluctant to engage the Heat in serious trade conversations. That reluctance makes one wonder just how serious Portland is about fulfilling Lillard’s trade request.
During summer league in Las Vegas in July, Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin said during a news conference that if completing a Lillard trade “takes months, it takes months.”’
Since Lillard requested a trade to the Heat on July 1, it has nearly been two months.
“I think the teams that have ended up being the most positive situation post-trade have been the ones that have been really diligent and taking their time and not being impulsive or the teams that have really kept their urgency under control,” Cronin said during that July news conference. “So I think that’s how my approach has been with this and will be with this, is we’re going to be patient. We’re going to do what’s best for our team.”
There really has been no reason for the Trail Blazers to rush into a deal, but soon there will be. Training camps around the NBA open on Oct. 3. That date will at least create some sense of urgency for Portland to find a deal in order to avoid Lillard, arguably the greatest player in Trail Blazers history, coming into camp and making the situation even messier than it already is.
The expectation from those around this situation is that trade talks could pick up as the start of camp inches closer.
And if the Heat is the only team extending a serious offer for Lillard, then the Trail Blazers may need to at least engage the Heat on some health trade discussions.
@KellyLinters22: Dwyane Wade was the first Heat draft pick inducted into the Hall of Fame. Who is your best bet for the second Heat draft pick to be inducted?
Anthony: The clear front-runner for this is Bam Adebayo, who was drafted by the Heat with the 14th overall pick in 2017.
In Adebayo’s first six NBA seasons, he has already been voted to two All-Star Games and has been named to the All-Defensive second team for four straight seasons. He has also already played in two NBA Finals with the Heat and won a gold medal with Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021.
In addition, Adebayo is on pace to finish among the Heat’s all-time leaders in field goals made, rebounds, steals, blocks and points if he remains with the organization for the foreseeable future, as expected.
It’s still early in Adebayo’s NBA career. He’s 26 years old and his best seasons appear to still be ahead of him. But it’s not too early to realize that Adebayo is very clearly producing at a pace that could make him the second Heat draft pick to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame one day.
