NBA Trade Rumors: Heat trying to acquire Damian Lillard while keeping Tyler Herro?

NBA Trade Rumors: According to a recent report, the Miami Heat are attempting to acquire Damian Lillard without including Tyler Herro.

The Miami Heat and Portland Trail Blazers have not spoken much, if at all, when it comes to a potential trade of Damian Lillard. Still, with a little more than a month before the start of training camp, it’s a deal that many still believe will get done eventually.

Interestingly, according to one report, the Heat is exploring the potential of landing Lillard without the inclusion of Tyler Herro. If they can pull it off, it may be the move of the decade.

On the one hand, it makes sense. If the Blazers don’t have an interest in acquiring Herro from the Heat in any potential Lillard deal, then why shouldn’t they explore the possibilities of getting the deal done without moving their young guard?

Whether or not it’s feasible remains to be seen, but with the Blazers playing the hard-to-get game, it shouldn’t come as a big surprise for the Heat to explore their options. The question is, how creative can the Heat get with the limited number of assets they have on their roster?

What could a non-Tyler Herro package look like from the Miami Heat?

If this is an option the Heat is exploring, there’s one assumption – Miami might’ve found a way to unlock more picks for the Blazers. Thinking of what Miami’s reported offer would be, the idea of the Heat moving Herro always revolved around unlocking more draft picks to send to Portland.

You’d have to think that the Heat is exploring other ways to do that without the inclusion of Herro or they might’ve already found a way to do so. If I had to guess, it probably includes trading Caleb Martin for a first-round pick or sending him to the Oklahoma City Thunder to remove protections on one of Miami’s future picks that is owed to them.

Hypothetically speaking, if the Heat can trade Martin (and perhaps a second-round pick) to the Thunder for their 2025 first-round pick back (which is projected to be a late pick anyways), it would open up Miami’s ability to trade four first-round picks to the Blazers (2024, 2026, 2028, and 2030).

If that were to happen, the Heat could then offer a package surrounded around Nikola Jovic, Jaime Jaquez Jr., four future-first-round picks, and pick swaps. If Miami could pull that off, it would be difficult for Portland to not seriously consider that level of offer considering the lack of interest from non-Miami teams for Lillard.

It’s just something to think about as we begin to inch closer and closer to the start of training camps.