NBA Trade Rumors: NBA insider hints to framework of possible Damian Lillard to Heat deal

NBA Trade Rumors: If Damian Lillard ends up being traded to the Miami Heat, it could prove to be complicated. Here is a hinted framework of a plausible deal.

More than a week through his trade request, Damian Lillard has maintained that he only wants to be traded to the Miami Heat. There have even been echoes that he could continue to make a mess heading into the season if he isn’t traded by the Portland Trail Blazers or if he ends up being moved to a non-Heat team. In short, it’s become pretty clear that Lillard wants to be traded to the Heat; no questions asked.

The latest reporting even suggests that there may not be another standing offer out there for the Blazers than the one that the Heat have reportedly offered; ESPN’s Brian Windhorst gave voice to that recently. All in all, with all the information that we have at the moment, it appears that a Lillard trade to the Heat is a very strong possibility.

After all, it’s what Lillard wants and is the only team, it appears, for now, that is aggressively pursuing a trade for the superstar guard.

Interestingly enough, even though Blazers general manager Joe Cronin suggested that there wasn’t much, if any, traction on trade talks with other teams. However, on The Pat McAfee Show, that didn’t seem to match what NBA insider Shams Charania was hearing.

According to Shams, there is one scenario in which Dame lands on the Heat via a three or four-team deal. He would even go on to give what a possible framework of a deal could look like.

He stated in the interview that there are several teams around the league that are ready and willing to part ways with at least one first-round pick to help facilitate a deal in which those teams would receive Tyler Herro back from the Heat as compensation.

Miami would then reroute that first-round pick to send it to Portland in an attempt to complete the deal. The Heat would also send a combination of young players or useful players to Portland and their trade-eligible first-round picks to complete the deal.

What the framework of a Damian Lillard trade to the Miami Heat could look like

Essentially, a deal could look something like this (with the third team being the big unknown):

Heat get: Damian Lillard (and possibly Jusuf Nurkic)

Blazers get: Kyle Lowry, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Nikola Jovic, and 3-4 first-round picks 

Third team get: Tyler Herro 

The big question that the Blazers would have to answer is whether this would be enough of a package to appease them making a deal. Right now, there’s no certainty. Especially if Cronin is willing to drag this into the start of training camp.