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NBA Rumors: A Heat Player Believes He Will Be Traded For Damian Lillard
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Though the Miami Heat still have work to do to get Damian Lillard, one of their players reportedly thinks he'll be moved this offseason.July 03, 2023 07:35PM EDT
© Michael Reaves/Getty ImagesDamian LillardThe Miami Heat gave a lot to talk about during the 2023 NBA playoffs, but in the end, they fell short of the ultimate goal. That's why this could be the right moment to land a star of Damian Lillard's caliber.
In addition to the fact that Jimmy Butler and company couldn't stop Nikola Jokic's Denver Nuggets, Miami has already lost important contributors of the team that made all the way to the Finals.
With Dame reportedly wanting out of Portland, it looks like a matter of time before the Heat reach an agreement with the Blazers. In fact, one of their own players already sees himself being traded.
Rumor: Tyler Herro believes he'll be part of package for Damian LillardAccording to Ethan J. Skolnick of Five Reasons Sports, Tyler Herro is already suggesting the Miami Heat will trade him this offseason in order to get Damian Lillard:
"Tyler Herro believes he's going to get traded," Skolnick said, via Heat Nation. "I can say that, okay, that that's what he's been telling people. He's expecting to be traded.
"We don't expect it to be a two-team trade if it ends up happening. There's going to be a third team involved. We thought it would be the [San Antonio] Spurs. Everything seems to be leaning towards the Nets more as a more legitimate possibility right now. They did sign Lonnie Walker, but I heard that that won't preclude them from doing anything as far as going for Herro."
While surrendering Herro would not be an easy choice, it might be the only way the Heat can get Lillard this summer. However, it's been only a few days since Dame requested a trade, so any negotiation could take some time.
Hollinger: Suns Lead The Way As Early NBA Free-agency Winners
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How do you win in NBA free agency without any money? The Phoenix Suns may have just found a way, one that has eerie echoes of the 2021-22 Golden State Warriors team that rode a series of astute minimum contract signings (Otto Porter Jr. And Gary Payton II) to help the Splash Brothers win a fourth ring.
Can the Suns give us a desert version of that? It seems possible after some of the best minimum contract work in memory, a haul that could make even the Warriors' summer 2021 group pale in comparison. The Suns agreed to deals with seven players on minimum (or essentially minimum) contracts in the first 48 hours of free agency, and what stood out about the signings was that they were of a much higher quality than usually seen at this pay grade.
It stands out for another reason too — usually a top-heavy team with name-brand veteran stars like Phoenix fills out the roster with decrepit veterans. The Suns, for whatever reason, were able to completely resist the lure of adding washed-up 35-year-olds and instead built one of the league's best benches despite cap restrictions that left them with little spending money. (Because Phoenix is over the second tax apron, the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement permitted the Suns to agree to only minimum contracts for outside free agents.)
Partly, the Suns did this by dangling the prospect of the Bruce Brown experience: Come to us, get a lot of minutes in important TV games, become a household name and profit. Five of the seven also get the security of a second-year player option for 2024-25 if things don't go well.
The Suns' front office was paying attention to the NBA this year, even in some of its more unwatchable corners. Whatever you think of its college scouting, Phoenix's free-agent class includes some deep cuts.
The names: Eric Gordon, Yuta Watanabe, Keita Bates-Diop, Drew Eubanks, Damion Lee, Chimezie Metu and Josh Okogie are all on minimum deals.
(Pedantic side note: Okogie and Lee may have technically received a 20 percent raise on their minimum contracts from the previous year as "non-Bird" free agents returning to the Suns and thus not technically count as "minimum" contracts. Functionally, it's about a $30,000 difference.)
Gordon is the biggest name here, but I'm not sure he's the biggest catch. The 34-year-old sharpshooter will likely help on the right nights and could add a jolt of floor spacing in the playoffs, but the Suns have two better players at the same position. Nonetheless, the Suns won here on value: He'll go on their cap at $3.2 million, and I had a BORD$ value of $6 million for him.
Yet that might be one of the Suns' smaller-value victories. The big payoff could come with the signing of Bates-Diop, who toiled in obscurity in San Antonio for the last three seasons but who fits the profile of a guy who can help in the playoffs: a crafty 6-foot-8 player who shoots 3-pointers just well enough to keep defenses honest and can guard multiple positions.
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Kudos to James Jones and the Phoenix front office for paying attention to Spurs games. BORD$ had a $9 million valuation on Bates-Diop, but in a flooded power forward market, he never gained much traction. He could end up starting playoff games, or, more importantly, finishing them. Even with the Spurs rebuilding, it's a bit surprising they let him walk without a fight.
Eubanks was another coup, an energetic rim-running backup five who is a much better rim protector and defender than the guy he replaced (Jock Landale) and somehow is on the books for $2.3 million for the Suns while Landale is getting $32 million over four years from Houston. I don't think this move is getting nearly enough attention — in a bad backup center market, the Suns found a very adequate solution at a position that was low-key killing them.
Similarly, the Suns went off the radar to get Watanabe (44.4 percent on 3s in Brooklyn last season) and Metu (who fell out of the mix in Sacramento despite a 17.3 PER in 66 games) and brought back Lee.
Finally, Okogie's floor-spacing limitations caught up to him in the playoffs, but he also generated a big BORD$ valuation ($9 million) with his defense and energy in the regular season. It may be easier to spot him in lineups that have a lot of shooting. I thought he'd have offers for the taxpayer exception, but instead, the Suns brought him back for peanuts. He's probably the first choice as the Suns' defensive "stopper" to begin games, saving miles on Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.
While we're here, check out the birth certificates. The Suns didn't just sign a bunch of old dudes who were good three years ago, as a lot of teams have done in this situation. Okogie is 24, Eubanks and Metu are 26, Bates-Diop is 27, Watanabe is 28 and Lee is 30.
As I noted this spring, Phoenix also did strong work in this area in 2021, helping the team stay afloat during an injury-riddled season. But even that performance pales compared to their work the past few days.
We can't say the Suns might have "won" free agency just yet — to do that, they need at least one of these guys to be a plus next June – but in terms of value for the dollar, this might be some of the best 48 hours we've ever seen. Phoenix maximized its minimums.
Some other teams that came away from the first 48 hours feeling good about themselves:
It's almost as if the destructively bad Russell Westbrook trade with Washington liberated the Lakers from just chasing after shiny objects and allowed them to operate like a real front office. Ever since, it's been a series of shrewd decisions by L.A., starting with this summer's choice to not go diving in after Kyrie Irving and instead bringing back most of the roster that went to last season's Western Conference finals.
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In a bout of unsexy team-building that nonetheless positions L.A. To contend in the West, the Lakers brought back D'Angelo Russell (two years, $35 million), Austin Reaves (four years, $56 million) and Rui Hachimura (three years, $51 million), which was largely expected. They helped themselves by grabbing point guard Gabe Vincent (three years, $33 million) to replace the departed Dennis Schröder and added stretch four Taurean Prince to replace the more offensively limited Troy Brown Jr.
The Lakers also took two shots by agreeing to minimum deals with a second-year player option for Cam Reddish and Jaxson Hayes. In particular, I would keep my eyes on Hayes, who gives them more athletic pop at backup five than they had a year ago.
One other note: It appears the Lakers set up their contracts to come exactly to the luxury-tax line and no further. If second-round pick Max Lewis signs for the minimum and the Lakers add another backup five on a minimum deal, they would have the required 14 players under contract and be right at the tax line.
The Cavs' weaknesses were displayed during their playoff implosion against New York, and Cleveland spent the opening days of free agency addressing them. The hope is that the Cavs added enough shooting that Donovan Mitchell won't have the Knicks' entire team waiting for him in the paint on his drives this coming spring.
In particular, Cleveland took advantage of the most permissive trade rules under the new CBA and its considerable wiggle room below the luxury-tax line to engineer a sign-and-trade that turned Cedi Osman into Max Strus. It only cost the Cavs a second-round pick, and Strus' deal is reasonable (four years, $63 million) for what he gives them. Free agency tends to trend old, but Strus is 27, and the Cavs likely bought the best years of his career.
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For the frontcourt, Cleveland went after Georges Niang, who might not be worth $26 million over three years on some other rosters but could easily justify it on this one. The Cavs' shot blockers (Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley) ease the concerns over Niang on defense, and he's a career 40.3 percent shooter from 3. He'll fill the role left open after the Cavs soured on Kevin Love (oops) and Dean Wade proved wanting.
The Cavs also needed another guard who could provide some offense after Ricky Rubio and Raul Neto failed to provide much juice. It appears they used the leftover piece of their midlevel exception to add Ty Jerome for slightly more than the minimum, thus preventing the over-the-second-apron Warriors from matching. Jerome played on a two-way last season but is a good shooter with an advanced floater game. Just like Niang, his defensive vulnerabilities are lessened by the two fly swatters waiting behind him.
The Cavs also resisted going overboard to re-sign their own player, Caris LeVert (two years, $32 million is reasonable here), and his deal is now timed to expire at the franchise's next big pivot point in 2025, when Mitchell could become a free agent and Mobley will be eligible for a max extension. Cleveland also sent $110,000 to Utah for backup big man Damian Jones.
Cleveland still has three open roster spots and will likely fill two of them; the Cavs could still use another forward in the 6-foot-8 range. If they add two veterans at the minimum and waive the non-guaranteed Sam Merrill, the Cavs will enter the year with a $1 million cushion below the tax line.
Finally, some short-attention-span-thoughts on other deals I liked:
NetsBrooklyn quietly got one of the best values of all of free agency by signing Dennis Smith Jr. For a one-year minimum. I'm amazed the weak backup point guard market didn't value him more than this after his rebound season in Charlotte; Smith is a poor shooter, but he's one of the best defensive guards in all of basketball.
HeatMiami brought back Josh Richardson on a "one plus one" minimum deal that lets him re-enter free agency a year from now. He's lost some athletic juice since his last tour in Miami, but he's still great value on a minimum. Richardson is a reliable shooter with some guard skills and can fill some of the minutes vacated by Strus and Vincent.
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Dallas brought Dante Exum back from Europe's KK Partizan Belgrade after a nearly two-plus-year hiatus; he hasn't played in the NBA since January 2021. Since then, he figured out how to shoot (38.8 percent from 3, 84.7 percent from the line last season across all competitions); he was one of the best players in Europe last season and will still only be 28 when the season starts. This was a canny pull on a one-year minimum.
The Mavs also got a great value by bringing back Dwight Powell for three years and a mere $12 million, and added shooting with Seth Curry's return; it appears the Powell deal's dollars are lined up to keep Dallas just below the apron if it uses its full $12.4 million midlevel exception on another player.
KnicksNew York got a good deal on Donte DiVincenzo and needed another reliable shooting guard for its rotation, but I'm a bit concerned that the Knicks had to jettison Obi Toppin to make it happen. I'll feel a lot better about this if they can get a decent backup four with their biannual exception, but time's-a-wasting.
Indiana brought in Toppin and Bruce Brown. I mentioned this recently so I won't belabor the point, but I thought the Pacers had the best week of any of the cap room teams, pending what the final sausage ends up looking like in Houston.
Related readingHarper's free-agency grades: Day 1Day 2
(Photo of Eric Gordon and Kevin Durant: Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today)
Biggest Winners And Losers From 2023 NBA Free Agency So Far
Biggest Winners and Losers from 2023 NBA Free Agency So Far0 of 7
Austin Reaves and LeBron JamesNoah Graham/NBAE via Getty ImagesAnother wild free-agency period is underway in the NBA.
In what has become something of an annual tradition, we've seen tons of player movement since the doors opened on June 30 (and really, since the Finals ended).
Even with a new collective bargaining agreement that would seem to be more restrictive on the player-movement front, teams are wheeling and dealing in both free agency and on the trade market.
And even though we're just a few weeks into the offseason, some early and fairly obvious winners and losers have emerged.
Which teams have set themselves up to take the biggest steps forward (or back) in 2023-24? Scroll below to find out.
Winner: Boston Celtics1 of 7
Marcus Smart and Kristaps PorziņģisNick Grace/Getty ImagesWe're going to take a little liberty with the time frame here and extend it back to the end of the Finals. The trades made between then and June 30 are obviously a big part of each team's offseason haul.
And the Boston Celtics made one of the best deals of the summer (so far) when they acquired Kristaps Porziņģis.
Yes, losing longtime Celtic Marcus Smart hurts. The 2021-22 Defensive Player of the Year had spent all nine of his NBA seasons with the franchise and has long been seen as the heartbeat of the organization.
But this is a fairly clear talent upgrade for Boston.
Porziņģis is a year and a half younger, a foot taller and coming off perhaps the best season of his career in 2022-23. He put up career highs in points per game (23.2), assists per game (2.7) and effective field-goal percentage (56.5) while posting a 96th percentile estimated plus-minus.
And he's more than your typical floor-spacing big for a couple reasons. First, and perhaps most importantly for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Porziņģis can hit threes from four or five feet beyond the three-point line. That extra room can make a real difference for slashers inside the three-point line, especially if an opposing big has to be on alert 30 feet from the rim.
He's also still an above-average defender and rim protector.
To get all of that and multiple first-round picks as part of this trade was an absolute slam dunk for Boston, especially since it held onto Derrick White and Malcolm Brogdon too.
Loser: Portland Trail Blazers2 of 7
Jerami Grant and Damian LillardCameron Browne/NBAE via Getty ImagesLosing the No. 2 player on the Portland Trail Blazers' franchise leaderboard for win shares automatically makes this a losing free-agency period.
And though he hasn't been moved yet, Damian Lillard has finally requested a trade, and we know how these things have almost always gone in recent years.
After years of "will he or won't he," though, the request itself might actually provide a hint of relief (or at least clarity) for the organization.
The front office now knows it's time to move toward the next chapter, which would ideally be one packed with young talent and incoming draft assets.
Unfortunately, Lillard waited till the second day of free agency to provide this clarity to the Blazers, after they'd already committed five years and $160 million to a 29-year-old forward who can score but adds little else to the box score.
Ideally, a Lillard trade would tip off a full-scale rebuild and youth movement revolving around Scoot Henderson, but the Grant deal makes that a little trickier.
If you're looking for the bright side, maybe Grant can perform well for the first few months of 2023-24 and yield some assets in a midseason trade, but this stings right now.
Winner: Phoenix Suns3 of 7
Devin Booker and Eric GordonJevone Moore/Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesThe Phoenix Suns severely limited their free-agent prospects when they took on Bradley Beal's massive contract in a late-June trade, but they've racked up several base hits since then.
Armed with little but the veteran minimum to surround Beal, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Deandre Ayton, the Suns have added Chimezie Metu, Keita Bates-Diop, Drew Eubanks, Eric Gordon and Yuta Watanabe.
They could all find their way into the Suns' rotation, but Gordon and Watanabe are particularly interesting acquisitions.
The former had multiple suitors but reportedly turned down more money to play in Phoenix. Gordon is a deep floor-spacer like Porziņģis and can play nominal point guard for a team whose wings will actually run the offense.
The latter is a 6'9" forward who hit 51.4 percent of his corner threes in 2022-23 and has plenty of experience fitting into a small role alongside superstars.
The Suns didn't have much flexibility for filling out the rotation around their new Big Four, and they've done about as well as anyone could've expected under the circumstance.
Loser: Denver Nuggets4 of 7
Reggie Jackson and Thomas BryantBen Swanson/NBAE via Getty ImagesTake this one with a grain of salt. Each of the Denver Nuggets' starters from 2022-23's championship team are coming back next season. There will be plenty of opportunity for development for sophomores Christian Braun and Peyton Watson.
But the Nuggets lost Bruce Brown (third on the team in playoff wins over replacement player), Jeff Green (seventh in playoff minutes) and Thomas Bryant (who was part of the trade that cost the team Bones Hyland and a second-round pick in 2023) for nothing.
And in one of the biggest surprises of free agency, the defending champions spent their taxpayer mid-level exception to re-sign Reggie Jackson, who promptly fell out of Denver's rotation shortly after he was signed from the buyout market in February.
After an outlier shooting season with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2020-21, Jackson has been one of the least efficient scorers in basketball over the last two seasons.
Several more intriguing options (like Seth Curry, Dante Exum and Eric Gordon) signed for less with other teams around the league.
And Denver's other free-agency addition, Justin Holiday, was in the seventh percentile in estimated plus-minus.
General manager Calvin Booth may be betting on the aforementioned young players and his incoming draft picks, but the quest to repeat could've used a little help in free agency.
Winner: Fred VanVleet5 of 7
Fred VanVleetAndrew Lahodynskyj/Getty ImagesYou could probably just go with the Houston Rockets here. No one has added more "estimated wins" this offseason, but it's fair to withhold judgment on all three of Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks and Jock Landale.
Brooks is an all-time bad shooter who's generally been surrounded by plenty of offensive firepower with the Memphis Grizzlies. Landale is a 27-year-old with two seasons of NBA experience. And VanVleet is a 6'1" point guard who's generally been surrounded by lengthy, experienced defenders and hasn't had an above-average effective field-goal percentage or true shooting percentage since 2017-18.
But that didn't stop Houston from giving VanVleet a massive, three-year, $130 million max deal.
To this point in his career, VanVleet had made just over $80 million, which was already a heck of a haul for an undrafted player, and now he's more than doubling that total.
(Short-Term) Loser: Washington Wizards6 of 7
Jordan PooleNoah Graham/NBAE via Getty ImagesThe Washington Wizards are on the other end of that "estimated wins added" chart as the team that's lost the most.
That sort of makes them "losers" by default.
But it was abundantly clear that a roster led by Beal and Porziņģis (both more appropriately cast as third options now) was never going to contend for a championship. And with little leverage (or none in the case of moving Beal, thanks to his no-trade clause), Washington did a fine job of finally accepting the best option going forward.
Things will probably be rough in the short term. A team led by Jordan Poole, Kyle Kuzma, Tyus Jones, Daniel Gafford, Landry Shamet and several players on rookie contracts is going to lose a lot of games.
But the Wizards finally have a direction, have a chance to accumulate assets over the next couple years and took understandable fliers on Poole and Kuzma this summer.
Winner: Los Angeles Lakers7 of 7
Austin Reaves and Anthony DavisAdam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty ImagesThe Los Angeles Lakers have drawn a lot of praise for their deals to keep or acquire Rui Hachimura, D'Angelo Russell, Gabe Vincent, Taurean Prince and Austin Reaves.
But none of the above are guaranteed to be big needle-movers, and L.A. Has actually lost some 2022-23 estimated wins. The offseason may not be the surefire slam dunk many are making it out to be.
They're still on the winners side of the ledger, though. Retaining Reaves for four years and $56 million, without really being challenged by anyone else for his restricted free agency, is a coup.
Current rules would've allowed some suitor with cap space to offer $101.9 million over four years. And while the Lakers probably would've matched that, it might have at least made them sweat. Matching it would've made team-building in the future a bit trickier too.
Instead, it looks like Reaves will take up under 10 percent of the cap in each season of this contract, which is absurd value for someone who has a good chance to be the team's third-best player.
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