Does Tyler Herro’s Season Justify The Miami Heat Not Trading For Damian Lillard?

Miami Heat’s Tyler Herro is having an All-Star caliber start to the season.

All offseason, Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro was in trade rumors in exchange for former Portland Trail Blazers superstar Damian Lillard.

In hindsight, sending Herro to the Brooklyn Nets or another team for assets to Portland now looks like a bad idea. He is averaging 23.6 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists. He is shooting career highs in field goal (47 percent) and three-point percentage (41 percent).

Meanwhile, Damian Lillard is averaging 26.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and seven assists in his first season with the Milwaukee Bucks, shooting 43 percent from the field and 37 percent from 3-point range.

Lillard is doing better than Herro statistically, but the Heat guard's impact to his team is undeniable.

This isn't to say Lillard wouldn't aid Miami or that he's a "worse" player. It just shows that Herro is having a relatively similar season at a much lower asking price. The Heat would've been giving up a significant amount to get relatively similar production from the former Trail Blazers star.

Perhaps the trade rumors lit a fire under Herro, especially people downgraded his impact when the Heat went to the Finals without him. Whatever the case may be, it is surely working in his favor. He’s having a career year through his first 10 games of the season.

He has another opportunity to add to his star season against the Atlanta Hawks (12-15) Friday night. Herro struggled last season against the Hawks, averaging just 14.8 points on 21 percent shooting from 3-point range.

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Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside the Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.

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