Grade the Trade: Heat land Damian Lillard; Tyler Herro gets fresh start in wild pitch

Grading the trade for the Miami Heat

From the Miami Heat's perspective, it's hard to be angry at this deal. The big question is whether they still believe the Jimmy Butler championship window is open heading into the offseason. If they do believe that to be so, there's no reason why they shouldn't move forward with this deal. However, especially with the inconsistencies from Damian Lillard this season, there's no guarantee they would want to openly jump toward making this deal. For the sake of this hypothetical, let's say the Heat believes they could revitalize Lillard's career and that Jimmy, too, would be sparked by such a blockbuster trade.

In theory, this trade could be a huge win for the Heat. Miami probably needs to find a new landing spot for Tyler Herro no matter what this offseason and while moving on from Nikola Jokic would hurt, getting back Bobby Portis could help shoulder that loss. Terry Rozier would no longer be needed and he would make sense as a stopgap for the Bucks. Two first-round picks would be the sweetener to get this deal done and I don't think Miami would push back all that much with that price.

Considering how disappointing this season has been for the Heat, this is a worthy gamble. It's not an ideal trade for the Heat, but they'd have to take it and run.

Trade grade: B+