Despite months of speculation, Miami’s Tyler Herro was not included in a trade for Damian Lillard.
While many expected Herro could potentially become the centerpiece of a deal that would send Lillard to the Heat, the longtime Trail Blazers guard was instead traded to the Milwaukee Bucks. Herro, meanwhile, will stay with the team that selected him in the 2019 NBA Draft.
After the deal, Herro shared his wild (and kind of sad) reaction to hearing his name included in the trade rumors all summer. Now, he has elaborated and shared a bit more of his thoughts (via The Sun Sentinel):
“I didn’t want to go to Portland, so I’m glad Portland didn’t want me … I just don’t want to be in Portland. So it’s not personal with Portland, at all.”
Herro added that he doesn’t think it’s a “revenge tour” for him next season, but he does think that while some people feel his value has gotten worse, he thinks he’s a better player now than he was last season.
Portland likely preferred depth in the frontcourt, adding Deandre Ayton and Robert Williams as part of the return for Lillard, because they have a fairly stacked young backcourt right now.
The Trail Blazers presumably want to give as many on-ball opportunities to Scoot Henderson, Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe. Herro would have potentially become a bit redundant with overlapping skill sets.
Ultimately, it feels fairly obvious that Herro and Portland were never a good fit. So maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised when the Bucks swooped in and got a deal done instead.
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