The Heat already have a deal in place sending the injured Victor Oladipo (knee) to the Oklahoma City Thunder (per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski) without any active players returning to Miami. That's $9.5 million of the $41.5 million needed.
Per Haynes, the Heat "are prepared to offer a package centered around Tyler Herro, with possibly Duncan Robinson and picks ... [preferring] to keep Caleb Martin out of any trade scenarios."
Pairing the Thunder trade with a Portland deal sending out Herro and Robinson would give the Heat more than enough salary to bring back Lillard. But the roadblock is that competing executives don't believe they are interested in a roster with No. 3 pick Scoot Henderson, Anfernee Simons and Herro.
Given that Herro is owed $120 million (with an additional $10 million in incentives) over four seasons and Robinson $57.4 million over the next three (with $47.4 million guaranteed), Portland's trepidation makes sense. Perhaps that shifts if the Heat would take on the $54.4 million owed to Jusuf Nurkić over three seasons.
Regarding pick compensation, Miami can offer firsts in 2028 and 2030 and up to four swaps (the franchise already owes one in 2025 or 2026 to the Thunder). The Heat can also offer players such as Kyle Lowry (expiring at $29.7 million), Nikola Jović, Haywood Highsmith and No. 18 pick Jaime Jaquez Jr.—but the UCLA product just signed his rookie-scale contract, so he can't be dealt until July 31.
That's the menu from the Heat. A fourth team may want to compensate the Blazers on behalf of Miami in return for Herro. The San Antonio Spurs project to have about $27.1 million in cap space, which happens to be almost precisely the number needed to take him on.
Would the Spurs sacrifice some of its draft compensation, including future firsts from the Toronto Raptors, Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls and Charlotte Hornets (some, not all), for a young scorer to blend with Victor Wembanyama, Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, Tre Jones and others?
How about the Utah Jazz, with its many firsts from the Minnesota Timberwolves and Cleveland Cavaliers (plus one from the Los Angeles Lakers)? The Jazz don't have enough cap space to take Herro outright but could offer players (Ochai Agbaji, Collin Sexton, Kelly Olynyk, Talen Horton-Tucker, etc.) to make a deal work.
Lillard's preferred path to Miami isn't out of the question, but it may take another franchise to make a generous offer for Herro to have any real legs.
