The Miami Heat are aware of Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard's desire to join the team, but Pat Riley and the organization are not panicking at the fact that a trade has not happened yet, and they are taking their time. That usually works out for the Heat, Ethan Skolnick of 5 Reasons Sports said on the Five on the Floor podcast.

“This is not new, this poker game that they're playing right now goes all the way back to Pat's first season in Miami,” Skolnick said. “This is what they do, they will wait these situations out until they get the terms they want, and sometimes they will even take a risk without guarantee that the player is going to stay… They will take this kind of risk, and so, the reason I'm bringing this one up, is I'm just saying, if your concern is ‘okay, they're going to wait this out, wait this out, and then they're going to flinch,' they haven't typically flinched.”

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Skolnick went on to talk about past free agents and trade targets the Heat have missed out on, and how it is still the right strategy to be patient in Damian Lillard negotiations.

“And they've typically gotten done what they wanted to get done,” Skolnick said. “I know people are going to mention some free agents, whether it was Kevin Durant or Gordon Hayward, or even a Mo Williams or some others and players that the Heat have missed out on through the years. But typically, when they wait these situations out, and take Donovan Mitchell out of this, cause they were never going to get Donovan Mitchell, the decision to wait is the right one, and the Heat end up showing that they had the stronger hand.”

It will be intriguing to see when Lillard gets traded, and whether or not the Heat and Pat Riley get their target.