Heat waiting on Damian Lillard jeopardizes NBA title chances

As the fallout on the Bradley Beal trade continues, it has become clear that the Heat are hyper focused on getting Damian Lillard. This is a mistake.

The Suns trading for Bradley Beal will have massive aftershocks around the league going forward. One of these is that the Heat didn’t seem to increase their offer for the superstar. Rather than better their offer, they decided to wait for the Damian Lillard sweepstakes.

This is huge for a team that was three wins away from winning the NBA title even if the team got a bit lucky in getting to the NBA Finals.

One could guess that the Heat did not want to give up Tyler Herro in a deal for Bradley Beal. Rather they wanted to use Duncan Robinson’s contract instead.

Robinson’s play was better this season and he was a suitable rotational player in the playoffs but his contract is still a negative. Assuming that Beal would have waived his no-trade clause for the team, this feels like a big reason that the trade did not go through.

What happens to the Heat if they do not get Lillard?

Depending on what happens in the rest of the East, the Heat could make it back to the Finals. Still, this team is not good enough to win an NBA championship as currently constructed.

Even if Beal picked the Suns over the Heat, it seems like Miami did not make that much of an effort for the star.

This team is so close to a title. They would have been the favorites coming out of the East if they end up trading for Bradley Beal.

If the Heat made more of a push for Beal, the All-Star would have been more likely to waive his no-trade clause for the team. They are now stuck with overpaying for Damian Lillard.

If they do not get Lillard, this will be the second straight summer that they have missed out on a star due to the fact that they have been stingy with trade assets.