Miami Heat, Brooklyn Nets, and Toronto Raptors
Going across the league, that leaves three teams that would possibly be interested in Damian Lillard and that could make a competitive offer to the Portland Trail Blazers. But as you’d imagine, it’s not as simple as that for each of these three teams.
The potential problem with the Toronto Raptors
Let’s start with the Toronto Raptors. In a vacuum, a trio of Lillard, OG Anunoby, and Pascal Siakam could be an intriguing trio in the Eastern Conference. It would be a contender. Would it be good enough to win a championship? Who knows, but they’d be in the conversation.
The one holdup is the assumption that the Raptors would be willing to build out a package around Scottie Barnes. If so, that’s certainly a better package than what the Heat can offer, even with the introduction of three or four teams. However, would the Raptors really trade Barnes for Lillard when they didn’t even want to trade him for Kevin Durant? I find that hard to believe.
Would the Brooklyn Nets be interested?
The Brooklyn Nets are probably the team the Blazers are hoping to drag into this bidding war. Because they’re the team that could probably beat any Heat package for Lillard. Brooklyn has unlimited picks they could trade and some intriguing young players on their roster.
The question is, should they be interested in Lillard? Should they be willing to mortgage their entire future around the trio of Lillard, Mikal Bridges, and Cameron Johnson? It sounds good on paper, but would that translate to championship success?
There’s a very real possibility that the Nets wouldn’t want to throw every asset on Lillard and would much rather wait around for a younger player that fits their timeline better.
Circling back to the Miami Heat
Maybe all roads do lead back to the Miami Heat?
In the Heat’s best package, they could offer four first-round picks, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Nikola Jovic, and expiring money. Would that be a terrible deal for Lillard considering the lack of interested teams? Going through the entire league, it’s pretty clear that there may not be this intense demand for Lillard that many would assume.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I simply don’t see the possibility of a huge bidding war for Lillard. Lillard to Miami makes the most sense. That said, sometimes there are things in the NBA that make sense but never happen.
Who knows how this Lillard saga will end, but one thing is for sure. There’s not this invisible bidding war for Lillard that’s just going to emerge. That’s not happening. It doesn’t exist. And the Blazers will begin to realize that soon.