The Miami Heat sent the Milwaukee Bucks packing on Wednesday night, after taking Game 5 in overtime, 128-126. Star forward Jimmy Butler once again captivated the basketball world with another monster performance.
Butler’s name was trending on Twitter all night, with fans all over tweeting about his gutsy outing at Fiserv Forum. Amongst those hitting send on the bird app was Portland Trail Blazers guard, and potential Heat trade target, Damian Lillard.
After watching Miami stun the team with the league’s best record, Lillard tweeted out a simple message.
“Himmy Butler lol,” the star guard wrote.
Himmy Butler lol
Of course, Heat fans flocked to the replies with photoshops of Lillard in Miami jerseys and questions about his future plans.
@Dame_Lillard Next season 🍿
At the end of the day, Lillard probably was just enjoying some high-level play, like the rest of us.
Butler poured in a game-high 42 points on 17-of-33 shooting to end Milwaukee’s season. Two of Butler’s points came at perhaps the most critical part of the game.
With the Heat down by two points and just 2.1 seconds to play, the 33-year-old made a tough catch off of an inbounds pass from Gabe Vincent, and finished an alley oop through traffic to send the game to overtime.
JIMMY BUTLER. HOW?!?!?!?!
Heat ‘On the List’ for Potential Damian Lillard Landing Spots
While fans in Lillard’s replies may be grasping at straws, there have been some rumblings that his next destination could be South Beach.
Portland finished 13th in the Western Conference this season, missing the playoffs for the second straight year.
As Lillard, now 32, continues to age, many believe he may ask out in order for a better chance to compete for a title.
If he were to do so, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said that he believes the Heat could be on the list of potential destinations for the aging star.
“I think the Heat are on the cusp of looking for another star maneuver,” Windhorst said on the April 26 episode of his podcast, “The Hoop Collective.” “I would put them on the list for Dame Lillard if Dame ends up getting traded.”
The ESPN insider went on to speculate that young star Tyler Herro would likely have to be included in any potential blockbuster.
“I don’t know if they have enough,” Windhorst continued. “A lot of their offer would be built around Tyler Herro, who’s just injured. But I suspect, I don’t know for sure, just to be clear, I don’t know for sure that they would offer him, but I would suspect that that would be the type of thing, that and draft picks.”
Exec Outlines Potential Damian Lillard Trade to Heat
The Lillard/Miami rumors have been building for quite some time now. Before the regular season even came to a close, Heavy Sports’ Sean Deveney spoke to an anonymous Eastern Conference executive, who outlined what a possible trade could look like.
“It would have to start with Tyler Herro, once his extension kicks in, you can send him to Portland. Then it is a matter of, can they include Kyle Lowry? Duncan Robinson? Portland would have to take back a bad contract to make it work,” the executive told Deveney.
The source did indicate that the Heat would likely have to include future draft assets, which they don’t have all that many of.
“So then, how much draft capital is Miami willing to give up? They owe a pick (2025 first-rounder) to OKC, so they can only give up a couple picks, and they could include [Nikola] Jovic. They’d have to put everything into the now and there’s a chance they’re going to be willing to do that.”
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Damian Lillard Joins Jimmy Butler Hype Train, Adds Fuel to Heat Trade Rumors