Tuesday night’s matchup between the Miami Heat and Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center could have been Damian Lillard’s first game back in Portland after being traded to Miami.
But after the Trail Blazers went against Lillard’s request to be traded to the Heat and dealt the eight-time All-Star guard to the Milwaukee Bucks last offseason, what once was a game slated to be aired on TNT was dropped from the national television schedule.
It’s also why any discussion regarding the pairing of Heat center Bam Adebayo and Lillard is now merely a hypothetical instead of what seemed to be an inevitability last summer. It’s a fantasy that again drew headlines during the All-Star break earlier this month when Lillard was asked to name his dream NBA starting lineup during an Tik Tok interview with social media personality Nelson Neumann.
Out of all the dudes he could have chosen, he chose me,” Adebayo said to the Miami Herald. “I feel like it’s respect for what I do, how I’ve improved over this year and from where I started.
One of the biggest reasons behind Lillard’s interest in joining the Heat last offseason was his close friendship with Adebayo. The two developed a strong bond while playing together and winning a gold medal with Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021.
That Olympics experience helped Adebayo build close relationships with a few NBA superstars, including Lillard and Durant.
“I feel like just understanding what I bring to the table, that I can impact winning,” Adebayo said of how the Olympics helped his reputation among his peers. “Even though they say, ‘Oh, he’s undersized,’ or whatever the case may be. ‘He’s still impacting winning at the highest level no matter who they play against or who he plays against.
