With the Damian Lillard and Miami Heat storm brewing, ESPN insider Zach Lowe takes issue with those knocking the quality of Miami's trade package.
Damian Lillard officially requested a trade from the Portland Trail Blazers last week. His list of preferred destinations? The Miami Heat — that's it.
Naturally, a one-team list makes life difficult on GM Joe Cronin and the Blazers front office. Rather than fielding calls from a robust market, Portland is stuck negotiating with a team in Miami that doesn't have the assets we've become accustomed to seeing involved in superstar trades.
Portland could deny Dame's team-specific request, but how many front offices make a play for Lillard knowing the tunnel vision he has for Miami? Is Utah really willing to unload the clip for a player who definitely doesn't want to be in Utah? The answer is, unfortunately for the league and the Blazers, probably not.
NBA insider disagrees with those criticizing Miami Heat's Damian Lillard trade package
The Heat don't have all their picks available to trade. Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo would deliver Portland top-25 players, but neither is realistically available here. Butler is the untouchable leader; Bam is Lillard's close friend and maybe even the driving force behind Lillard's desire for Miami.
Any trade package will come down to Tyler Herro (at four years, $120 million), salary filler in the form of Duncan Robinson or Kyle Lowry, a collection of mildly interesting young players (Nikola Jovic, Jaime Jaquez Jr.), and a couple unprotected first-round picks in 2028 and 2030. Maybe a couple swaps for good measure.
That feels dire compared to recent star trades, even dating back to last season when Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell both netted the Jazz at least four first-round picks and then some. ESPN insider Zach Lowe, however, took issue with those calling the Heat's offer "dog poop."
"Everyone is acting like the Heat's offer is a pile of dog poop and I'm like, look, Tyler Herro — he's not amazing, but I think he's a good NBA player," said Lowe.
Herro averaged 20.1 points and 4.2 assists on 56.6 TS% last season, his first year in the Heat starting lineup. He now starts a massive four-year extension that has led many to compare him to Jordan Poole, another slender offense-first guard who signed a lucrative extension with Golden State last summer. We all know how that worked out.
Lowe, however, isn't here for the Poole comps: "Tyler Herro has been demonstrably better than Poole. Herro is an actual legit, elite, 3-point shooter."
Here's where Lowe is undeniably correct. Herro is in a different league than Poole. He's not only more efficient from 3-point range (37.8 percent last season compared to Poole's 33.6 percent), but he's far more advanced as a facilitator and decision-maker. Herro can get too shot-happy every now and then, but he's capable of running the offense and leveraging his shot gravity to create for teammates. Poole struggles in that regard.
Still, Herro is a skinny 6-foot-5 guard with a negative wingspan. He will always be a negative defender, no matter how hard he tries. Then there's Portland, a team with Scoot Henderson, Anfernee Simons, and Shaedon Sharpe already entrenched in the backcourt. Herro would, frankly, be the fourth-best guard "prospect" on Portland's roster at 23 years old.
The Blazers are almost certainly going to reroute Herro to a third team in any Lillard trade, but the market for Herro is probably won't yield much more than a first-round pick. Herro's contract and defensive limitations make it hard to consider him a fully positive asset, even if his offensive production will hold broad appeal.
So, let's say the Heat successfully reroute Herro for a pick and maybe some spare parts. Add that return to Nikola Jovic, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Duncan Robinson, and Miami's two first-round picks. Then, to be even more charitable to Miami, let's say Portland finds a way to get off of Jusuf Nurkic's contract in the process.
Is that a good trade for a superstar of Damian Lillard's stature?
Uh, no. Not by recent standards, at least. It's more than nothing. It's definitely not the worst superstar trade of all time. Maybe Jovic and Jaquez turn into good players down the line. Those picks in 2028 and 2030 could be valuable. But that's simply very little guaranteed value for a top-15 player coming off the best individual season of his career.
