3 Hypothetical Damian Lillard Trades
Where will the Trailblazers’ star point guard be headed?
Just today Damian Lillard had a meeting with the Portland Trailblazers to discuss his future on the team. The team has not made any trades this offseason despite having the third overall pick and many young talents, which may cause Lillard to finally request a trade.
Here, I will be giving three possible trade packages I can see the star point guard being traded for, from most likely to least likely.
The Miami Heat Finally Acquire Their Second Star
It seems like for the past five seasons we’ve heard constant rumors of stars being traded to the Miami Heat. But this year it seems like the Heat actually mean business. The Athletic’s Sam Amick reported that “Lillard indeed has serious interest in joining the Heat.”
But acquiring Lillard would not come without a hefty cost and I expect the Blazers to receive a package revolving around Tyler Herro. Compared to many other packages this one is very realistic as the Heat would let go of some of their young talent in Herro and Jovic, in order to go all in with their current roster.
If the Heat were able to pull off this deal, it would instantly put them in true contender status. A tandem of Jimmy Butler and Damian Lillard would be among the best in the league. The Heat also have very good role players, in Max Strus, Duncan Robinson, Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin, etc. They may even be the favorites to win it all if they were able to acquire Dame.
Mikal Bridges Teams Up with His Buddy in Brooklyn
Another likely destination for Damian Lillard is the Brooklyn Nets. Mikal Bridges and Damian Lillard are already very close friends and Dame has expressed interest in playing with his buddy.
Additionally, Brooklyn most definitely has the package to trade for a player of Damian Lillard’s caliber. Just last year the team let go of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, which resulted in them acquiring a plethora of picks. In this mock trade, I would have them using four of those picks along with young talent Cam Thomas and cap space filler Ben Simmons.
I’m sure if Portland received an offer of this caliber they would most definitely consider it, but the decision more so relies on Brooklyn. Would adding Lillard put them at contender status? In my opinion, yes. Mikal Bridges has shown how great of a small forward he is, and along with Cam Johnson and Nic Claxton, the Nets could be one of the better teams in the East.
New Orleans Sends Away Their Former №1 Pick
The last and most unlikely trade destination I have for Damian Lillard is New Orleans. The Portland Trailblazers have shown lots of interest in Pelicans’ star Zion Williamson, so I’m sure they would gladly get rid of Lillard if it meant getting Zion in return.
If the Pelicans front office believes that they can win a championship with a core of Damian Lillard, Brandon Ingram, and CJ McCollum, then they should not have any hesitation when making this possible trade. Since Zion has already shown his all-star potential, the Pelicans would not have to add much more to pull this trade off.
A potential Pelicans starting lineup could look this: Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Brandon Ingram, Herbert Jones, and Jonas Valanciunas. This would basically be the same as Blazers teams of the past, but with an added all-star small forward in Brandon Ingram. We saw that Blazers team go to the Western Conference Finals, so theirs no telling how far the Pelicans could go with Lillard.
These are what I think are potential Damian Lillard trade packages. Let me know in the comments your ideas on these trades and what team you think should have been on here. To see more articles just like this, please make sure to check my account linked below.
