Damian Lillard Trade Rumors: Insider Believes Heat Preference Will Deter Other Teams

While the Portland Trail Blazers are "open for business everywhere in the league" in terms of the Damian Lillard sweepstakes, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, it may not be as wide open of a market as they hope.

With Lillard specifically requesting a trade to the Miami Heat on Saturday, that demand may deter other teams from entering the bidding war to avoid having a disgruntled superstar landing on their roster, according to the Miami Herald's Anthony Chiang and Barry Jackson.

"One involved source predicted that Lillard's one-team list will deter other suitors and greatly increase his chances of ending up with the Heat," the pair wrote Sunday.

Wojnarowski also reported that Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin won't necessarily key in solely on Miami and accommodate Lillard at the expense of better offers. He also said that the Heat won't have an advantage over any other team in the league during negotiations.

Cronin even issued this statement shortly after the news broke:

"We have been clear that we want Dame here but he notified us today he wants out and he'd prefer to play someplace else. What has not changed for us is that we're committed to winning, and we are going to do what's best for the team in pursuit of that goal."

As of Sunday it does seem like the Heat are in the driver's seat, however. Bleacher Report's Chris Haynes reported that the organization is preparing a package centered around Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson and some draft compensation and that the Blazers are reaching out to third teams to reroute Herro to make the deal work.

While Miami may not be able to give Portland the best package out of all of Lillard's potential suitors, Lillard's loyalty to the organization over the past 11 years should hold a lot of weight moving forward, despite Cronin's statement.

Some of the other teams linked to the superstar point guard include the Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers and San Antonio Spurs. The Utah Jazz are also in the mix, according to Jackson.

All of those teams could probably give better offers than the Heat.

Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant, the last two superstars to make trade demands to specific organizations, both landed where they wanted. Now, it's time to see if Lillard will be the latest addition to that trend as he searches to join a contender.