Heat's Tyler Herro: My Goal Is to Become 'Untouchable' in Trade Talks amid NBA Rumors

After being the subject of trade rumors for much of this offseason, Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro is aiming to make himself indispensable to the organization.

Speaking to Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald, Herro suggested that he wants to have such a strong season in 2023-24 that the Heat will view his name as a nonstarter in trade negotiations moving forward: "Honestly, my goal this year is to get my name untouchable. That's my goal. At the end of this season, they won't want to trade me. That's my goal."

It was long speculated that the Heat were dangling Herro as part of a trade package for then-Portland Trail Blazers superstar guard Damian Lillard, but Portland dealt Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks instead.

Herro told Chiang that he never requested a trade amid the Lillard rumors because "[the Heat] told me it wasn't going to happen."

Per ESPN Andscape's Marc J. Spears, the Heat initially offered the Blazers Herro and two first-round picks for Lillard, but the deal never came to fruition.

Ultimately, Portland landed Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton, Toumani Camara, a 2029 first-round pick and two first-round pick swaps in a three-team trade with the Bucks and Phoenix Suns.

The Blazers later flipped Holiday to the Boston Celtics for Robert Williams III, Malcolm Brogdon and first-round picks in 2024 and 2029.

Miami selected Herro with the No. 13 overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft out of Kentucky, and it is fair to say he has exceeded expectations during his four-year NBA career.

Herro primarily came off the bench in his first three seasons, and in 2021-22 he was named the NBA Sixth Man of the Year by virtue of averaging a career-high 20.7 points per game to go along with 5.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.7 three-pointers made per contest.

Last season, Herro started all 67 games he appeared in, and while his scoring dipped slightly to 20.1 points per game, he set new career highs with 5.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 3.0 three-pointers made per game.

Herro's efficiency dropped off a bit, though, as he went from shooting 44.7 percent from the field and 39.9 percent from beyond the arc in 2021-22 to 43.9 percent and 37.8 percent last season.

A broken right hand forced Herro to miss all but one of Miami's playoff games last season, and yet the eighth-seeded Heat made it all the way to the NBA Finals before falling to the Denver Nuggets.

Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Duncan Robinson and Caleb Martin were among the driving forces behind Miami's playoff run, and they all return to the team this season.

It can be argued that the Heat's success without Herro could have made him expendable, especially in a trade for an elite scorer like Lillard, but Herro is a big-time offensive player in his own right, and he figures to play with a chip on his shoulder during the 2023-24 campaign.