Damian Lillard traded to Milwaukee Bucks — not the Miami Heat

MIAMI — What began in June with Damian Lillard requesting a trade to the Miami Heat has ended on the eve of training camp with the All-Star point guard being dealt Wednesday by the Portland Trail Blazers to the Milwaukee Bucks.

With Heat President Pat Riley and his front office apparently drawing a line with their willingness to dramatically alter the assets of a team that has advanced to three of the past four Eastern Conference finals, it instead has turned into an offseason of subtle change for coach Erik Spoelstra’s team — and of huge gain for one of the Heat’s prime Eastern Conference rivals.

In a three-team deal, according to multiple reports and sources:

— Lillard was sent by the Blazers to the Bucks.

— The Blazers in the deal landed Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton, a 2029 Bucks first-round pick and first-round pick swaps with Milwaukee in 2028 and ’30, if more favorable.

— And the Suns in the trade wound up with Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson.

For the Heat, the sum total of the offseason stands as the losses of Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, Omer Yurtseven and Cody Zeller in free agency, a move away from Victor Oladipo on the trade market, the additions of Josh Richardson and Thomas Bryant in free agency, and the selection of UCLA wing Jaime Jaquez Jr. with the No. 18 selection in June’s NBA draft.

While there also were others added in free agency to fill out the training-camp roster to the 21-player limit, it essentially remains a roster reliant mostly on Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.

Left to deal with during training camp, which opens Tuesday in Boca Raton at Florida Atlantic University after Monday’s media day at Kaseya Center, is reembracing Herro, Kyle Lowry and Duncan Robinson, the three players surrounded by the greatest degree of speculation in Lillard trade permutations.

So instead of Lillard as the leading man at point guard, the Heat now are left to work at that position with Lowry, Herro, Jamaree Bouyea and Dru Smith, the latter two who are under two-way contacts.

Lowry, 37, had been a starter for the first season and a half after signing a three-year, $85 million free-agent contract in the 2019, before moving to the bench last season when he returned from a lengthy layoff due to knee pain. His salary almost assuredly would have been utilized in a trade for Lillard.

Vincent, who left for a three-year, $33 million contract, slightly more than the Heat offered, with the Los Angeles Lakers, closed the 2022-23 season as the starter at point guard, a position he held throughout the Heat’s run to the NBA Finals.

While Lillard’s agent, Aaron Goodwin, had made clear his client’s desire to solely relocate to the Heat amid the Blazers’ rebuilding program, and while Lillard, 33, acknowledged the trade request in an interview with ESPN, the Heat had remained mum about a player under contract elsewhere for four more seasons at over $200 million.

It had become evident, however, that the Heat were leaving the door open for such a transaction, taking a passive stance on the free-agent market beyond Richardson and Bryant, even amid a seeming lack of depth at point guard.

Unlike failed Heat gambits in free agency in recent years for the likes of Kevin Durant and Gordon Hayward, this was not merely about the Heat’s ability to woo top-tier talent, but also of meeting the demands of Blazers General Manager Joe Cronin.

The Heat, who seemingly have had Butler and Adebayo off-limits, were limited in draft currency available for trade due to a future, protected first-round pick still due the Oklahoma City Thunder.

While the door has closed on Lillard, it is possible that Giannis Anteotokounmpo or Joel Embiid could hit the trade market during coming months or offseasons, based on last season’s playoff failures by the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers, respectively.

For Lillard, the trade means a long-awaited opportunity to move back into contention, having appeared in only 10 playoff games since 2019, none the past two seasons.

Had the Heat acquired Lillard, it would have taken the high end of their salary scale to an even higher end. He is due $45.6 million this coming season, $48.8 million in 2024-25, $58.5 million in 2025-26 and a player option for $63.2 million in 2026-27. That’s with Butler earning $42.5 million this coming season and Adebayo $32.6 million.

Lillard has been with the Blazers since being drafted No. 6 out of Weber State in 2012, having hoped to remain in Portland had the Blazers gone with more of a veteran approach this offseason.

A seven-time All-Star, Lillard was first-team All-NBA in 2018, second team four times and third team twice, including this past season. He was named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team in 2021 and that year also was named NBA Teammate of the Year.

If there were any concerns about a dropoff, Lillard averaged a career-high 32.2 points this past season, above both the 24.0 he averaged the previous season and his 25.2 career average.

In a June podcast interview with ESPN personality Brian Custer, Lillard made his feelings clear on the Heat when the subject of possible relocation was raised.

“Miami obviously,” he said of a trade preference. “Miami is the obvious one. And Bam is my dog. Bam is my dog for real. Miami is the obvious one.”

Lillard and Adebayo were teammates on USA Basketball’s gold-medal roster at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

The Blazers insisted from the start they would solicit competitive outside offers, with Cronin issuing a statement in late June that read, “We have been clear that we want Dame here, but he notified us today he wants out and he’d prefer to play someplace else. What has not changed for us is that we’re committed to winning, and we are going to do what’s best for the team in pursuit of that goal.”

Cronin followed up with a similar vow issued in July at the NBA summer league in Las Vegas. On a podcast with former Portland teammate Evan Turner, Lillard said of his Blazers legacy, “I would say I want to be remembered for who I was, not as a player, but the principle that I stood on regardless of how successful I was, how major the failure was, the criticism, what people thought I should have did, what people think of me … no matter what was happening, I want to be remembered for who I was. I stood tall. I’ve stood tall in every situation and I want to be remembered for that.”