Woj ‘Bought and Paid For’ by Blazers, Says Dan Le Batard

The stalemate between the Portland Trail Blazers and Miami Heat is set to continue when it comes to Damian Lillard.

On Monday’s episode of “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz”, Miami radio host Dan Le Batard had some strong words regarding ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski.

Thank you for bringing up Woj … the Heat know that he’s just agenda-based, shilling, bought and paid for by Portland, it’s embarrassing that Woj is telling people it might be weeks or months on Lillard.

This insinuates that Le Batard believes a trade between the Heat and Blazers is close, which doesn’t reflect much of what others have said. It appears that the two sides are far apart on a deal because the Blazers do not want a package centered around Tyler Herro, another guard to team up with their young core featuring Anfernee Simons, Shaedon Sharpe and No. 3 overall pick Scoot Henderson.

Lillard asked to be traded by the Blazers at the beginning of the month, shortly after the start of free agency. Dame doesn’t have a no-trade clause, but his agent Aaron Goodwin has told teams that he prefers a trade to the Heat and that is the only team he is interested in going to.

The Blazers could trade him to any of the other 28 teams or keep him on the roster anyway, but there’s been rumors that Lillard wouldn’t report if that were the case.

The Heat has gained a decent amount of leverage given all that has happened in the past two weeks, but the Blazers also have the option to simply not trade him and keep him until the end of his contract, several years down the line.

And for that reason, a trade may not be immediate.