NBA Trade Rumors: Miami Heat only team ‘aggressively’ pursuing Damian Lillard

NBA Trade Rumors: The Miami Heat are still the only team that is aggressively pursuing Damian Lillard. 

The Portland Trail Blazers don’t appear close to trading Damian Lillard even though it’s been more than a week since he requested a trade away from the team. But that hasn’t stopped from Lillard’s camp doing everything it can to keep the market for its client limited.

It’s been reported that Lillard wants Miami and only Miami; so far there hasn’t been anything to indicate that his wishes have changed. That makes possible negotiations even more difficult for the Blazers. And that’s probably one of the bigger reasons why we haven’t seen a trade become official.

But this is what Lillard and his camp wanted. They wanted a limited trade market in an attempt to successfully lead him to the Heat. According to a recent report, it seems to be working. Per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, there is no other team than the Miami Heat that is actively pursuing Lillard at the moment.

The big question is, though, will it last? Because that’s what ultimately will decide whether Lillard finds his way to the Heat or not.

What other teams could jump into the pursuit of Damian Lillard?

If there are no other teams willing to effectively jump into the pursuit of Lillard, then this only becomes more of a foregone conclusion. If this ends up being so, it’s not if Lillard lands on the Heat, it’s more about when.

But that could make the negotiations between the Blazers and Heat that much more complicated. If Miami isn’t willing to bet against itself in a negotiation for Dame, the only other ounce of leverage that the Blazers have is holding out on pulling the trigger on a deal and hoping that Miami eventually puts all their chips on the table to get a deal done.

This could ultimately become a contest about which team blinks first – the Heat or the Blazers.

If it’s truly Miami or nothing, the Blazers don’t have much wiggle room and will eventually have to accept some sort of deal from them. The one big wildcard in this all is if somehow another team jumps into the picture. At least for now, that isn’t the case.

But, as is the case in many superstar transactions, that could change at any given moment. And that’s seemingly what the Blazers are hoping for at this point.