2025 NBA Season

[Finestream]

Here's the Mock Trade:

Miami Heat gets:
Damian Lillard
Jusuf Nurkic

Portland Trail Blazers gets:
Ben Simmons
Kyle Lowry
Nikola Jovic
2028 first-round pick (via Brooklyn)
2028 first-round pick (via Miami)
2030 first-round pick (via Miami)

Brooklyn Nets gets:
Tyler Herro
2026 second-round pick (via Miami)

Source: https://allucanheat.com/2023/07/06/perfect-3-team-trade-damian-lillard-miami-heat/

If this trade happens Heat would rob all of them. Getting Lillard and Nurkić for basically nothing is a great deal for them. Lowry is at the retirement stage, maybe this is his last year. Nikola Jović didn't get any time in Heat and Herro is not an indispensable player. Jimmy Butler and Damian Lillard combo would work in next 2 seasons as we may see Heat in finals again.

Hopefully not because the mock-up showed above is not really enough to be a replacement for Dame Lillard, it's only a win-win situation for the Nets and especially the Miami Heat while Portland would be getting trash players and a couple of first round picks which are the ones that are only good in the package, but Simmons and Lowry? No offense but I don't think they can make a difference either.

[tusandii]

-snip-

It's funny. This site calls it "a perfect 3-team trade", but I'd say it's a perfect deal only for the Nets and the Heat but not for the Blazers. The way I see it, getting a few future first-round picks, as well as an aging Lowry and a weird guy like Simmons, would be a dumb decision by the Blazers' management. In that case, the Blazers would look like the Rockets, who have been trying to rebuild their team for a few seasons now.

My thoughts are the same as yours, but to say that 3 perfect team trades are actually also appropriate because they made quite good deals and of course other teams cannot imitate them.
But here I'm actually assuming that actually the Heat are the ones who benefit the most to be able to have good preparations for next season.
Blazers have been trying to get better but let's see what they can do for next season although I doubt there will be anything surprising that the Blazers can achieve.

[Kelvinid]

Blazers have been trying to get better but let's see what they can do for next season although I doubt there will be anything surprising that the Blazers can achieve.

Lillard was likely disappointed with what happened to the team after they traded CJ McCollum, as they formed one of the best backcourt combos. Interestingly, CJ's career took off with the Pelicans, but unfortunately, they faced challenges due to key players being injury-prone. It's understandable that Lillard would request a trade, as he no longer sees his vision aligning with the team's direction.

Now, I am confident that the Blazers will trade Lillard, and regardless of the offers from other teams interested in participating in the trade, I believe the Heat will be the ultimate winner, as it is Lillard's preferred landing spot.

[danherbias07]

A sold-out game for Victor Wembanyana's debut.

Victor Wembanyama’s debut at NBA Summer League is Friday night (9 ET, ESPN) and it’s sold out. All 17,500 tickets that were available for Day 1 of the 11-day series of games on the campus of UNLV were gone by sometime Wednesday, largely because of the debut of the 7-foot-3 rookie who will be playing his first game in a San Antonio Spurs uniform.

That will be later for you guys in Eastern Time. 9 PM.
He will be playing against the number 2 pick Brandon Miller of the Charlotte Hornets. It ain't just going to be fun, the fact that it's sold out means it's going to be an amazing game and one that might be the start of a new history of the NBA.
Wemby has so much hype now, he is all over the news although I still want to see him play in the NBA, especially in the playoffs where everything will be on the line. That's if the San Antonio Spurs could do it in his rookie year.

Also, according to that report, he will only be playing twice in the Summer League and the next one will be against the number 3 pick Scoot Henderson of the Portland Trail Blazers. Wemby is a spoiled player now, they will take care of him until the season starts.  

[wheelz1200]

Here's the Mock Trade:

Miami Heat gets:
Damian Lillard
Jusuf Nurkic

Portland Trail Blazers gets:
Ben Simmons
Kyle Lowry
Nikola Jovic
2028 first-round pick (via Brooklyn)
2028 first-round pick (via Miami)
2030 first-round pick (via Miami)

Brooklyn Nets gets:
Tyler Herro
2026 second-round pick (via Miami)

Source: https://allucanheat.com/2023/07/06/perfect-3-team-trade-damian-lillard-miami-heat/

If this trade happens Heat would rob all of them. Getting Lillard and Nurkić for basically nothing is a great deal for them. Lowry is at the retirement stage, maybe this is his last year. Nikola Jović didn't get any time in Heat and Herro is not an indispensable player. Jimmy Butler and Damian Lillard combo would work in next 2 seasons as we may see Heat in finals again.

I agree, Miami is in win now mode with Jimmy and Bam, adding those 2 seem like that would put them over the top.  Dame>>>>>>hero at this point and hero didn't even really play in the playoffs.  Adding nurkic would be the icing.  But I said it before Portland wouldn't want 2030 firsts they would probably want something near term to add to their young core group.  Don't think this trade would go through with 2028 and 2030 firsts.

[OgNasty]

^ Not the worst trade I guess. Especially when you consider that getting Dame would probably draw in free agents that are worth more than what Miami would be giving up for him. Concerning news for the league is the rumor that if Dame gets traded anywhere other than Miami that he will refuse to report. His image might be about to take a hit.

[wheelz1200]

^ Not the worst trade I guess. Especially when you consider that getting Dame would probably draw in free agents that are worth more than what Miami would be giving up for him. Concerning news for the league is the rumor that if Dame gets traded anywhere other than Miami that he will refuse to report. His image might be about to take a hit.

That would be crazy, I know holding out is more an nfl thing but I can't remember an nba player being traded and refusing to check in.  Would that team have the right to back out of the trade?  At this point in his career do you really think Dame would do that.  I mean if he gets buried on a presentation losing team I guess it's possible but what if the Bucks swung a trade for Dame.  I mean the chip is there for him to win it a bunch of places.  If he didn't comply yeah his image would definitely take a hit.  Everyone should learn from Leveon Bell better to play then to sit out.  Could ruin your career.

[Vaculin]

-snip-

It's funny. This site calls it "a perfect 3-team trade", but I'd say it's a perfect deal only for the Nets and the Heat but not for the Blazers. The way I see it, getting a few future first-round picks, as well as an aging Lowry and a weird guy like Simmons, would be a dumb decision by the Blazers' management. In that case, the Blazers would look like the Rockets, who have been trying to rebuild their team for a few seasons now.

My thoughts are the same as yours, but to say that 3 perfect team trades are actually also appropriate because they made quite good deals and of course other teams cannot imitate them.
But here I'm actually assuming that actually the Heat are the ones who benefit the most to be able to have good preparations for next season.
Blazers have been trying to get better but let's see what they can do for next season although I doubt there will be anything surprising that the Blazers can achieve.

Well, let's see if the Portland will get that kind of bait just because of a couple of first round picks are laid towards them. I know that they wanted to grant Dame's wishes but this is just too far and I don't really think that they will just agree on it especially with Simmons on the trade, they aren't that dumb to accept a player that doesn't know what team play is and he was just so different nowadays compared to the time when they were great in the Sixers.

[Japinat]

^ Not the worst trade I guess. Especially when you consider that getting Dame would probably draw in free agents that are worth more than what Miami would be giving up for him. Concerning news for the league is the rumor that if Dame gets traded anywhere other than Miami that he will refuse to report. His image might be about to take a hit.

That would be crazy, I know holding out is more an nfl thing but I can't remember an nba player being traded and refusing to check in.  Would that team have the right to back out of the trade?  At this point in his career do you really think Dame would do that.  I mean if he gets buried on a presentation losing team I guess it's possible but what if the Bucks swung a trade for Dame.  I mean the chip is there for him to win it a bunch of places.  If he didn't comply yeah his image would definitely take a hit.  Everyone should learn from Leveon Bell better to play then to sit out.  Could ruin your career.

Honestly, other than the Miami Heat, there are lots of teams that are interesting to acquire Dame and they actually got what it takes to get him if they were that serious. But in respect with what the player wanted, they are giving the chance to the Miami Heat because that's what the player wanted and if the Heat cannot give a good package in return, let's just expect that there will be some teams that will have their own offers, like Bucks and Celtics for instance.

I don't really mind what the agent of Dame says, and I will not believe a single thing that the league is afraid of that kind of trouble because with Dame's situation nowadays, it will be hard for him to forget what he started just because of this trade. Sooner or later, he will retire within a decade or less, I don't think he's ready to sacrifice that kind of thing.

[btc_angela]

^ Not the worst trade I guess. Especially when you consider that getting Dame would probably draw in free agents that are worth more than what Miami would be giving up for him. Concerning news for the league is the rumor that if Dame gets traded anywhere other than Miami that he will refuse to report. His image might be about to take a hit.

This is also what I expected, I mean if Dame doesn't get what he wanted then he might not play that well next season. And it seems in paper that Portland are going to do their best to trade him, but at the back of my mind, I'm seeing that they are not going to let him go to Miami.

So let's see where he will go or where the management wanted him to be traded. Maybe in a team that will not figure to the playoffs? That will be bad for Dame as we all know that he is in the tail end of his career, and that's why he wanted to go to a contender team in the East like the Heat.

[Oasisman]

-snip-

It's funny. This site calls it "a perfect 3-team trade", but I'd say it's a perfect deal only for the Nets and the Heat but not for the Blazers. The way I see it, getting a few future first-round picks, as well as an aging Lowry and a weird guy like Simmons, would be a dumb decision by the Blazers' management. In that case, the Blazers would look like the Rockets, who have been trying to rebuild their team for a few seasons now.

My thoughts are the same as yours, but to say that 3 perfect team trades are actually also appropriate because they made quite good deals and of course other teams cannot imitate them.
But here I'm actually assuming that actually the Heat are the ones who benefit the most to be able to have good preparations for next season.
Blazers have been trying to get better but let's see what they can do for next season although I doubt there will be anything surprising that the Blazers can achieve.

Well, let's see if the Portland will get that kind of bait just because of a couple of first round picks are laid towards them. I know that they wanted to grant Dame's wishes but this is just too far and I don't really think that they will just agree on it especially with Simmons on the trade, they aren't that dumb to accept a player that doesn't know what team play is and he was just so different nowadays compared to the time when they were great in the Sixers.

If the Blazers will have no other choice and doesn't find any better offer than what this 3-way trade, then I guess they would gladly accept it, otherwise they'll be keeping a Dame Lillard who are less interested to contribute to the team.
On the other hand, I don't even understand why they keep signing Ben Simmons, the guy have just totally lost his talent after being slammed because of his poor shooting percentage. I don't even know if the guy has a value LOL.
Well, I'm really hoping the Heat could pull this one of and it's now or never for Dame. The Heat are in a hot momentum for the playoffs, and Dame is surely a great addition to the team.

[wheelz1200]

^ Not the worst trade I guess. Especially when you consider that getting Dame would probably draw in free agents that are worth more than what Miami would be giving up for him. Concerning news for the league is the rumor that if Dame gets traded anywhere other than Miami that he will refuse to report. His image might be about to take a hit.

That would be crazy, I know holding out is more an nfl thing but I can't remember an nba player being traded and refusing to check in.  Would that team have the right to back out of the trade?  At this point in his career do you really think Dame would do that.  I mean if he gets buried on a presentation losing team I guess it's possible but what if the Bucks swung a trade for Dame.  I mean the chip is there for him to win it a bunch of places.  If he didn't comply yeah his image would definitely take a hit.  Everyone should learn from Leveon Bell better to play then to sit out.  Could ruin your career.

Honestly, other than the Miami Heat, there are lots of teams that are interesting to acquire Dame and they actually got what it takes to get him if they were that serious. But in respect with what the player wanted, they are giving the chance to the Miami Heat because that's what the player wanted and if the Heat cannot give a good package in return, let's just expect that there will be some teams that will have their own offers, like Bucks and Celtics for instance.

I don't really mind what the agent of Dame says, and I will not believe a single thing that the league is afraid of that kind of trouble because with Dame's situation nowadays, it will be hard for him to forget what he started just because of this trade. Sooner or later, he will retire within a decade or less, I don't think he's ready to sacrifice that kind of thing.

Honestly I think the Bucks is the best spot for Dame.  With brook and giannis they got theor 4/5 covered.  I don't know who or what they can offer (seems to me the same that the Heat can offer) then the Bucks would be instant east favorites.  The Bucks are a premiere team, little bad luck with giannis going out early in game 1 of theor playoff series.  If I was Dame that would be the team I'd want.  That inside out game would be insane.  The amount of open 3s he'd see.  And with his range.  Wow that would be a tough team to cover.

[MK-74]

According to the latest news I read, Portland and Miami are going to have a meeting in Vegas a few days later.
Damian Lillard's manager Aaron Goodwin was very hopeful about the meeting.
Let's see what the result will be.

[carlisle1]

^ Not the worst trade I guess. Especially when you consider that getting Dame would probably draw in free agents that are worth more than what Miami would be giving up for him. Concerning news for the league is the rumor that if Dame gets traded anywhere other than Miami that he will refuse to report. His image might be about to take a hit.

This is also what I expected, I mean if Dame doesn't get what he wanted then he might not play that well next season. And it seems in paper that Portland are going to do their best to trade him, but at the back of my mind, I'm seeing that they are not going to let him go to Miami.

So let's see where he will go or where the management wanted him to be traded. Maybe in a team that will not figure to the playoffs? That will be bad for Dame as we all know that he is in the tail end of his career, and that's why he wanted to go to a contender team in the East like the Heat.

Not a good path for Dame in case the management will not let him go to the team that he wanted to play, but nothing can be done
if the trade offer from Miami is not what the management would want to accept.

They still have the control and if they prefer to send him to another team who can grant the best offer for him, then it would be the destination
for Dame, to play.

Let's see if what would be the negotiation and what would be the next destination or if we will see Dame playing this upcoming season.

[Yaunfitda]

According to the latest news I read, Portland and Miami are going to have a meeting in Vegas a few days later.
Damian Lillard's manager Aaron Goodwin was very hopeful about the meeting.
Let's see what the result will be.

It's going to be interesting how Aaron Goodwin can bully his way and get his Dame to the Heat because that's what the team that Dame wanted to in the first place. If not then it's going to be ugly as there are speculations that Lillard might sit the whole season if he is not traded to the Miami Heat.

And I also heard Miami's Heat sales pitch, as there are reports who says that he will just lay down the rings in the table and says that if Lillard wanted to have that then he should go Miami. So I guess the ball is literally on the side of the Portland management, if they really wanted to make this trade or not on behalf of Lillard or move him to another team.

[livingfree]

According to the latest news I read, Portland and Miami are going to have a meeting in Vegas a few days later.
Damian Lillard's manager Aaron Goodwin was very hopeful about the meeting.
Let's see what the result will be.

This is it I guess for the Dame trade, coming from Portland going to Miami. Yes, let's wait what shall be the progress of this talk and how it will end.

Going with the Lakers, majority of the players that they've retained have already officially signed but not with D'Lo since it was said that he's still in Croatia for a vacation.

It's just all about being officially signed and waiting for him to come back.

[Dave1]

According to the latest news I read, Portland and Miami are going to have a meeting in Vegas a few days later.
Damian Lillard's manager Aaron Goodwin was very hopeful about the meeting.
Let's see what the result will be.

This is it I guess for the Dame trade, coming from Portland going to Miami. Yes, let's wait what shall be the progress of this talk and how it will end.

Going with the Lakers, majority of the players that they've retained have already officially signed but not with D'Lo since it was said that he's still in Croatia for a vacation.

It's just all about being officially signed and waiting for him to come back.

That's where he wanted to be in the Miami Heat uniform and that's why it's very important for his agent to facilitate that. And if I'm not mistaken, Dame is in Hong Kong so he might be just chilling but for sure he is waiting for that important news from Aaron Goodwin.

Yeah, I think it's official that D'Lo will be back in Lakers uniform for the new season.

Reaves is also coming so gonna be fun to see almost the full roster are back with their new acquisition, Gabe Vincent, Jaxson Hayes and Cam Reddish.

[passwordnow]

Wemby got these stats for his debut in the NBA summer league with his team:

9 Points, 2-13 FG

8 Rebounds

5 Blocks

3 Assists

Well, too many were disappointed about the stats that he's made for his very first game. But I'd say that gives time to the kid and the best prospect on this year's draft. It's still a new and fresh start so don't be hasty. That one game seems to be like the judging game for him before even this official season starts.

[livingfree]

According to the latest news I read, Portland and Miami are going to have a meeting in Vegas a few days later.
Damian Lillard's manager Aaron Goodwin was very hopeful about the meeting.
Let's see what the result will be.

This is it I guess for the Dame trade, coming from Portland going to Miami. Yes, let's wait what shall be the progress of this talk and how it will end.

Going with the Lakers, majority of the players that they've retained have already officially signed but not with D'Lo since it was said that he's still in Croatia for a vacation.

It's just all about being officially signed and waiting for him to come back.

That's where he wanted to be in the Miami Heat uniform and that's why it's very important for his agent to facilitate that. And if I'm not mistaken, Dame is in Hong Kong so he might be just chilling but for sure he is waiting for that important news from Aaron Goodwin.

It's all up to the talks if they'll both agree to the terms and definitely, the smell of the money that's staked on this contract.

Yeah, I think it's official that D'Lo will be back in Lakers uniform for the new season.

It's official now that D'Lo is with the Lakers so it's just a delayed for his signing but everything is up and good now.

Reaves is also coming so gonna be fun to see almost the full roster are back with their new acquisition, Gabe Vincent, Jaxson Hayes and Cam Reddish.

It surely is gonna be fun with the complete roster of Lakers now. Still one of the favorites on this season but hopefully they wouldn't have a bad start just as last season.

[Blitzboy]

According to the latest news I read, Portland and Miami are going to have a meeting in Vegas a few days later.
Damian Lillard's manager Aaron Goodwin was very hopeful about the meeting.
Let's see what the result will be.

Even though Aaron Goodwin has reason to be optimistic, we all know that nothing is guaranteed until it is certain in the NBA. The stakes have never been higher than they are now.

If he doesnt get traded to the Miami Heat, Lillard reportedly threatens to sit out the rest of the season. Yikes! That's one serious show of force! However, I've heard that Miami has a compelling pitch prepared; after all, those championship rings are quite shiny, no?

Now Portland must take the initiative. They must decide whether to let Lillard leave easily or to negotiate for a better contract. It looks like we're in for a tough discussion.