3 teams besides the Heat who should consider risking it all for Damian Lillard
The Miami Heat’s leverage has never been lower in the Damian Lillard trade sweepstakes. Teams should be looking to take advantage of the shifting marketplace.
When Damian Lillard submitted his trade request to the Portland Trail Blazers, it came with a fairly unambiguous directive: get me to the Miami Heat.
In the weeks verging on months since the request was made, the Blazers have stubbornly refused to earnestly engage with the Heat, who don’t have much to offer relative to other teams around the league. And, to make matters even dicier for Lillard’s camp, the NBA came down strong on his Miami-only rhetoric and threatened punishment if any more similar comments are made.
The odds of Lillard ending up somewhere other than Miami have never been higher. And, while the Heat still feel like the prohibitive favorites by default, one has to imagine other teams will poke around the market eventually. Lillard is coming off the best individual season of his career and he would elevate the competitive ceiling of any team.
Here are three non-Heat teams who should pick up the phone and make their best offer to Joe Cronin and the Blazers’ brass.
No. 3 team that should trade for Damian Lillard: New Orleans Pelicans
The Pelicans’ masterfully orchestrated rebuild is about to slam headlong into a brick wall. The Zion Williamson experience has been more negative than positive to date. He has played one majority-healthy season in four years. Off the court, there’s a constant hum of purported unhappiness. Does he want to be there? Do the Pelicans even want him there?
Before it all goes south, David Griffin should do everything in his power to salvage what is an undeniably talented group. Williamson has been a top-20 NBA player whenever he’s actually on the floor. Brandon Ingram is a bonafide star with the perfect modern skill set. CJ McCollum rocks. Trey Murphy is on the come up. Herb Jones is perennially All-Defense. It’s a special group.
Adding Lillard to the mix would give the Pelicans a real shot at contending in the West. New Orleans has more draft picks than every team except OKC and enough young assets to tempt Portland without offering core pieces. Assuming Zion can just make it to the playoffs, New Orleans would — on paper — have to be considered one of the primary contenders in the West.
Lillard would love to re-team with McCollum, who he remains close with. Zion and Lillard would drive defenses silly. Lillard is the best deep-range shooter outside Golden State; Zion is a walking paint touch who collapses the defense like a rock falling through a wet paper towel. It’s impossible to guard on paper, and that’s without considering McCollum and Ingram operating from the wings or Murphy bombing deep 3s of his own.
New Orleans with Lillard is a genuine potential title contender. There’s risk involved, as there is with any star trade, but Griffin should make the call.