The Portland Trail Blazers decided to take the No. 3 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft on G League Ignite guard Scoot Henderson, and depending on what you believe, this might mean that Damian Lillard is going to seriously weigh asking out. Of course, there’s no guarantee this is going to happen, and Lillard has even said he expects to start next year in Portland.
Regardless, there is a line of thought that Lillard has no interest in a youth movement and wants to compete, which has led to speculation that his time with the Blazers may be running out. One team that is reportedly preparing for that to happen is the Miami Heat, which are constantly star-hunting and view Lillard as a potential fit. That’s nothing more than rumors at this point, but in a pretty unfortunate twist for Lillard, an Instagram Live broadcast on Friday made headlines because of the song playing in the background: “Miami” by Will Smith.
Damian Lillard listening to “Welcome to Miami” on IG live
(h/t @MGRADS) pic.twitter.com/lbX9dkHn8T
— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) June 23, 2023
According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, Lillard is currently in Paris and this song came on at a club. Amick spoke to Lillard’s agent, Aaron Goodwin, who explained that this was quite the unintended turn of fate.
“The music was just a coincidence,” Goodwin said. “Damian’s not disrespectful. He’s not an instigator, so he’s not going to do anything out of character. There would be no reason for him to do that. That’s why he laughed (in the video). It’s a funny coincidence that a DJ would put that on.”
There have been a whole lot of weird twists and turns with Lillard’s future this offseason, but I will confidently say this is, so far, the weirdest.