Heat Have 2nd-Best Odds to Land Star PG Who Wanted to Join Them

The Miami Heat have the second-best odds (+200) to land nine-time NBA All-Star point guard Damian Lillard should the Milwaukee Bucks decide to trade him this offseason, according to online sportsbook Bovada.

They are just right behind the Orlando Magic (+150), who are in dire need of a point guard and have a plethora of picks to offer. Trailing the Heat are the Los Angeles Lakers (+450), Portland Trail Blazers (+950) and Toronto Raptors (+950).

The Orlando Magic are the favorites to land Damian Lillard if he is not with the Milwaukee Bucks next season, per @BovadaOfficial

Orlando Magic +150
Miami Heat +200
Los Angeles Lakers +450
Portland Trailblazers +950
Toronto Raptors +950 pic.twitter.com/fT1aMA9ryA

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 25, 2025

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The Heat have lost star power after trading away their disgruntled former franchise star Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors at the deadline. It is evident that they are no longer one of the contenders and have descended to just a fringe playoff team after they had to go through the play-in tournament once again.

The Heat are currently down 2-0 in their first-round series against the No. 1 seed Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Milwaukee Bucks are in the same boat as the Heat, facing a 2-0 series deficit in their first-round matchup with their Eastern Conference nemesis Indiana Pacers.

Lillard has just returned from deep vein thrombosis that kept him out since March 18. He admitted he was winded in his first game back after only scoring 14 points on 4-of-13 shooting in 37 minutes in the Bucks’ 123-115 loss in Game 2.

The Bucks will have a big decision to make in the offseason if they bow out of the first round for the third straight season.

Lillard, 34, is extension-eligible. He has one year guaranteed left on his contract after this season. He has a $58.5 million player option for the 2026-27 season.

Miami Was Damian Lillard’s Preferred Destination in 2023

Before the Bucks scooped Lillard up from Portland in the summer of 2023, the six-time All-NBA player wanted to go to Miami.

With the mutual interest between Lillard and the Heat out in the open, 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 Sam Amick of The Athletic 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.”

No Jimmy, No Dame?

But Lillard also 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.”

Now that Butler is gone, will Miami still become an option for Lillard should he and the Bucks decide to move on from each other?

Any Lillard trade package will also have to include Tyler Herro, a Milwaukee native. But with Herro’s rise as an All-Star this season, it’s also hard to imagine the Heat trading him for a player 10 years older than him after their reluctance to commit max money on Butler.