A golden opportunity has just opened up for the Miami Heat after missing out on Kevin Durant.
In a shocking turn of events on Tuesday, July 1, the Milwaukee Bucks cut Damian Lillard to make way for the signing of center Myles Turner.
According to Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press, the Heat will be among the several contenders who are interested in scooping up the best free agent point guard.
“The Heat — this is no surprise — are expected to have interest in Damian Lillard, who very surprisingly now holds a lot of cards he didn’t expect to hold,” Reynolds wrote on X in the aftermath of the Bucks’ stunning decision.
“Also expected to have interest: well, lots of teams. It’s up to Dame, and it’s on his timetable because there is no rush whatsoever,” he added in a follow-up post on X.
Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald confirmed Reynold’s reporting.
Getty Damian Lillard is now a free agent after the Milwaukee Bucks waived him to sign center Myles Turner.
With Lillard unable to play next season due to an Achilles injury, the Bucks stretched and waived the remaining $113 million on his contract, which will hit their cap room with $22.5 million in dead money for each of the next five seasons. It allowed them to sign Turner to a four-year, $107 million deal with the Bucks, plus a player option for year four in 2028-29 and a full 15% trade kicker, per ESPN’s senior NBA insider Shams Charania.
It will also allow Lillard to join any team without financial considerations. He can sign for the veteran’s minimum for his team of choice and still take home the same $113 million salary the Bucks owe him.
Damian Lillard ‘Elated’ With Bucks Decision
Lillard welcomed this opportunity, Sam Amick of The Athletic reports, which he did not get when he asked for a trade from the Portland Trail Blazers in 2023.
The Heat were his preferred destination at the time.
With the mutual interest between Lillard and the Heat out in the open, former Portland general manager Joe Cronin refused to negotiate with Pat Riley and instead jettisoned Lillard to Milwaukee.
“It was anything to go against what I would have wanted,” Lillard told Amick in October 2023. “That part was irritating. Just based off how it was happening, I knew [it wouldn’t be Miami]. [The Blazers] hadn’t talked to Miami. So once it started happening like that, then I started hearing about all these other random teams. I was like, ‘I’m probably not going to Miami.’ So I wasn’t holding on to that too [much].”
“[The Heat] did everything they could to acquire Dame,” Lillard’s agent, Aaron Goodwin, said, according to the Miami Herald at the time. “It takes two to get a deal done.”
Does Dame Still Want to go to Miami?
But things are different now.
The Heat are no longer a contender after Jimmy Butler left in a messy exit last season.
Lillard made it clear in a separate interview with Melissa Rohlin of Fox Sports in 2023 that playing with Butler was a huge factor in his interest in heading to South Beach.
“We’ve always been in some form of contact with each other,” Lillard said at the time. “And I said it, initially I was like, ‘I want to go to Miami.’ He was a big part of that. It didn’t happen. I’m here now. But our relationship will be the same. The same respect. It’s just something that didn’t happen. It was out of his control and mine.”
Without Butler, will Miami still a top option for Lillard?
Lillard will be 36 when he returns to the court following a lengthy recovery from his Achilles injury. At that point, Lillard may want to join a contender to chase a ring.
It’s up to the Heat to build a championship-ready roster by then.
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