Insider has interesting pushback on potential Damian Lillard-Heat trade package

Thus far, the Portland Trail Blazers have seemingly kept their same approach to trade discussions with the Miami Heat about Damian Lillard. The mindset has been simple — they want more. More than the Heat are offering and probably more than Miami can realistically offer (outside of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo).

The back-and-forth of the rumor mill has been interesting, specifically because there seems to be a popular viewpoint that the Heat would be bidding against themselves, as Lillard's push to get to Miami could certainly work in their favor.

In turn, that, among other things, led to Heat insider Ira Winderman making an interesting pitch during a Q&A session on the South Florida Sun Sentinel. When asked about a trade package including Tyler Herro, Nikola Jovic and four first-round draft picks for Lillard, he responded with the following:

"Yes, it appears that Tyler Herro goes out, which, in the end, yields another first-round pick in the package. But the question here is whether you need to send out that much. Considering Nikola Jovic could be viewed as another first-round pick, do the Heat need to send out the equivalent of five (5!) first-round picks for a 33-year-old player who is still due almost $200 million? From this perspective, that appears excessive. If patience saves you at least one future first-round pick, or even more, then stay patient. There won’t be another game that counts for over three months."

It's an interesting pitch, but essentially considering Jovic as a first-round pick muddies the conversation to some extent. Overall, the general outlook here seems to circle back to the fact that the more picks involved, the higher the likelihood this deal gets done, but the Heat don't have enough future first-rounders to make it work as things stand.

All that said, it's hard to envision Lillard not landing with the Heat, but the timeline for how long it may take will remain the big question, as the Blazers seem more than content sitting back and waiting.