There is a massive betting favorite to win the Damian Lillard trade sweepstakes.
Last week, the longtime Portland Trail Blazers’ All-Star guard requested a trade from the only organization he’s ever known, per ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski.
Per NBA reporter Evan Sidery, the DraftKings Sportsbook lists the reigning Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat as the betting favorites to land Lillard at -300, followed by the Boston Celtics at +550.
Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium recently reported that the future Hall of Famer is only keen on playing for Miami. Whether or not the club has the pieces Portland wants to complete a trade remains to be seen, of course.
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The Heat exceeded expectations by reaching the NBA Finals as a No. 8 seed. But they lacked reliable scoring outside of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo in the finals against the Denver Nuggets, who overwhelmed the Heat in five games.
Pat Riley has never failed to deliver on recruiting big-named stars to South Beach. See: Butler, Shaquille O’Neal, LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Kyle Lowry. So at the end of the day, nobody should be surprised if he manages to complete a trade for Lillard.
The seven-time All-Star averaged 32.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game in 58 contests for the Trail Blazers last season. For his career, Lillard has averaged 25.2 points per game.
