NBA Trade Rumors: Damian Lillard to Heat trade could be delayed by Joel Embiid?

NBA Trade Rumors: Is there a chance that a possible Damian Lillard to Miami Heat trade could be impacted by Joel Embiid?

At least for now, there’s still a vast expectation that a Damian Lillard trade to the Miami Heat is going to get done at some point over the next few weeks or months. The belief is that one of the bigger reasons why a trade hasn’t gotten done between the two sides is the fact that the Portland Trail Blazers are being overly patient.

But what if Miami has played at least some hand in a Lillard trade not done yet? Maybe it’s the Heat that is completely fine with waiting out this process a bit more.

One reason why Miami would be willing to do that could fall on what’s taking place in Philadelphia. According to NBA reporter Rohan Nadkarni, the Heat might be waiting around to see what happens with Joel Embiid – similar to the way they did in which they didn’t go all-in for Bradley Beal.

This is another interesting layer, to say the least. Maybe the Heat has realized that Portland isn’t all that motivated to trade Lillard before the start of the season. Could Miami have said, “Fine, let’s just pivot and see what’s happening with Embiid before we circle around back to Lillard?” It’s not that far-fetched of an ideal.

Why Joel Embiid makes sense for the Miami Heat to pursue

In theory, the Heat should 100 percent be open to a possible Embiid trade. If there’s a way they could make that happen, it should be something they would at least listen to. However, a possible path toward an Embiid deal could be difficult. At least on some fronts, the Heat would have to be willing to trade Bam for Embiid, and that’s no guarantee.

If Miami is willing to do that, they’d be completely all-in on making the Butler championship window the only one that matters for the time being. Trading Bam would be a huge future-impacting decision for the Heat.

While I understand how close Jimmy and Embiid may be, I’m not completely sure this is a path the Heat would be willing to go down. But on some fronts, pursuing Embiid could be viewed as much more appealing than taking the gamble on Lillard. Embiid is essentially four years younger than Lillard and is coming off an MVP season.

The question the Heat would have to answer is whether a trio of Tyler Herro, Embiid, and Butler is better than Lillard, Butler, and Bam. That’s a tough one and could play at least a small factor in why the Heat hasn’t made their best offer to Portland for Lillard.

Either way, we’ll find out more about the future of the Heat over the course of the next few weeks. At some point, another shoe is bound to fall.