The Miami Heat came close to winning another NBA championship in the last few years, but they’ve always come up short. Therefore, the team has been strongly linked with Damian Lillard this offseason.
Many agree that landing a player of his caliber is what Erik Spoelstra’s team needs to go the distance, since it looked like having Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo wasn’t enough to do so.
However, the Portland Trail Blazers have made it clear they’re willing to wait for months if they don’t get what they want in return. Miami will probably need help to make this happen, but one of the candidates to act as a third team is reportedly not interested in this deal after all.
Rumor: Nets may not want to part with Ben Simmons
According to NBA insider Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports, the Brooklyn Nets may not be the third team Miami needs to strike a deal with Portland, as they reportedly want to give Ben Simmons another chance:
“There’s been league-wide speculation that Brooklyn has looked into adding Herro as an effort to offload Ben Simmons. However the Nets, league sources told Yahoo Sports, have not held any meaningful trade conversation regarding Simmons and this Lillard-to-Miami blockbuster. Yes, this is another offseason rife with social media sightings of Simmons on the mend, shirtless and lifting and back on the court, but Nets officials seem genuinely intrigued to see how a healthy, former three-time All-Star can perform in a much different Brooklyn environment.“
Simmons left much to be desired in Brooklyn so far, but the team understands it hasn’t seen enough of the Australian yet.
