It’s been nearly three months since Portland Trail Blazers star point guard Damian Lillard requested a trade to the Miami Heat, yet he’s still a member of the former.
A recent report indicates that a Lillard trade to Miami is “unlikely.”
“One league source who spoke to Portland’s front office last week was told by the Trail Blazers that a trade that sends Lillard to the Heat is ‘unlikely,’” Anthony Chiang wrote.
“But those involved understand what may seem like the state of negotiations one day might be completely different the next day. All it takes is one phone call between the Heat and Trail Blazers to re-ignite trade talks.”
Lillard was selected with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft following a four-season stint playing college basketball at Weber State. He averaged 11-plus points per game and two-plus assists per game in each of his four seasons as a member of the Wildcats.
The point guard’s best season of college basketball came during his senior season, the 2011-12 season. He averaged 24.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game in 32 appearances with the Wildcats as a senior (all starts).
Lillard’s contributions on the offensive end of the floor translated into a whole lot of wins for the 2011-12 iteration of the Wildcats. They finished the season with an excellent 25-7 record but missed out on the NCAA Tournament.
The 33-year-old point guard has played 11 seasons in the NBA, all as a member of the Trail Blazers franchise. He averaged a career-high 32.2 points per game to go along with 4.8 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game across games played with the Trail Blazers during the 2022-23 regular season (all starts).
Lillard also shot the ball with impressive accuracy from the field, seeing as he converted 46.3 percent of his field-goal attempts and 37.1 percent of his three-point attempts.
Those numbers were good enough for Lillard to earn an All-Star nod — the seventh of his pro career — as well as a spot on the All-NBA Third Team.
Despite Lillard’s productive 2022-23 regular season, the Trail Blazers missed out on the postseason. They finished the regular season with a subpar 33-49 record, ahead of only the Houston Rockets and the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference.
This latest development hints at the notion that the Trail Blazers might deal Lillard somewhere other than Miami. Only time will tell when and where Portland decides to deal the seven-time All-Star.
