Portland Trail Blazers star point guard Damian Lillard recently confirmed that he had in fact requested a trade, declining to elaborate further. While this may be music to the ears of Miami Heat fans, it appears that Portland is still not budging.
The Blazers have reportedly “expressed no enthusiasm for the Heat’s assets” up to this point despite Lillard's comments, per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
This is just the latest development in the bizarre saga that has been this offseason for Lillard and the Blazers.
It started when, after a frustrating season a year ago, Damian Lillard finally requested a trade from Portland after years of speculation. It was immediately suggested that the Heat trade for the Portland All-Star, with Jimmy Butler's lack of secondary playmaking being thoroughly exposed in Miami's Finals loss to Denver.
However, while at one point a trade seemed imminent, nothing has materialized yet. With the NBA season now less than two months away, and with teams reporting to training camp in just a few weeks, the pressure is increasing for both sides of the negotiation to get something done.
As for Miami's assets that are apparently uninteresting to Portland, Tyler Herro is the most obvious name that the Heat could offer up. Others have proposed a three-team trade that could send Herro to a third party while Lillard would head to Miami.
While there's still time for Miami to up the offer or for Portland to change its mind, it doesn't appear that the two sides are any closer than they were two months ago.
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