Miami Heat enters NBA Draft with the 20th pick, and plenty of options. Here’s a rundown
The NBA Draft is never as simple as just making a pick, but this season it’s even more complicated than usual.
The condensed offseason will allow for free agent negotiations to begin less than 48 hours following the draft on Friday at 6 p.m. There’s usually almost two weeks separating the draft and the start of free agency.
Then there’s the unique circumstances that come with holding a draft amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Prospects are working out and interviewing for teams via Zoom, while limited in-person visits with prospects are allowed but all players, trainers, team personnel and physicians involved must return a negative COVID-19 test prior to the workout or meeting.
There’s also the fact that most of the draft prospects have not played in a game since March when sports stopped because of the pandemic. There won’t be a summer league or many offseason workouts to shed any rust either, with the truncated schedule forcing draftees to begin training camp with their new teams about two weeks after the draft on Dec. 1 for a Dec. 22 start to the 2020-21 NBA season.
The Miami Heat will have to navigate and consider all of those challenges and circumstances as it enters Wednesday’s draft (8 p.m., ESPN) with the 20th pick in the first round that’s expected to come around 10 p.m. The Heat currently does not own a second-round pick in this year’s draft, which will be conducted virtually from the ESPN’s campus in Bristol, Connecticut.
“I think the draft, it is deep. There are good players,” Miami Heat assistant general manager Adam Simon said during a Zoom session with reporters last week. “At this point, we have the 20th pick. We feel good about the players that we’ve studied and our board. I think we can find a good player.”
While there is still little consensus on the order at the top end of the draft (LaMelo Ball, Anthony Edwards, James Wiseman), many around the league believe there is depth in this year’s class that should leave the Heat with rotation-level players to pick from at No. 20.
Among the prospects projected to be drafted in the Heat’s range who could be first-round options for Miami are: Memphis big man Precious Achiuwa, North Carolina guard Cole Anthony, TCU wing Desmond Bane, Duke big man Vernon Carey Jr., San Diego State guard Malachi Flynn, Arizona wing Josh Green, Duke guard Tre Jones, Arizona guard Nico Mannion, Washington wing Jaden McDaniels, Arizona big man Zeke Nnaji, Kentucky guard Tyrese Maxey, Texas Tech guard Jahmi’us Ramsey, Maryland big man Jalen Smith, Washington big man Isaiah Stewart, Stanford guard Tyrell Terry, Michigan State big man Xavier Tillman Sr., Michigan State guard Cassius Winston and Mississippi State wing Robert Woodard II. There are also prospects who spent last season overseas on this list: wing Leandro Bolmaro, guards RJ Hampton and Theo Maledon, and big man Aleksej Pokusevski.
The Miami Herald has confirmed six individual workouts the Heat has held with draft prospects: Achiuwa, Anthony, Carey, Nnaji, Aaron Nesmith, who is expected to be selected before Miami’s pick, and Ramsey.
The Heat could choose to keep the 20th pick and hope he turns into a quality rotation player. The 20th selection is slotted to make about $2.1 million this upcoming season and $2.3 million in the 2021-22 season, and would be under team control for five seasons.
The last five players selected at No. 20: Matisse Thybulle in 2019, Josh Okogie in 2018, Harry Giles III in 2017, Caris LeVert in 2016 and Delon Wright in 2015. All five are NBA rotation players.
“You’re trying to find the most versatile players. That’s the goal,” Simon said of the Heat’s philosophy when it comes to draft picks. “Players that can play both sides and they can defend. But if they have a great skill of being able to shoot, it obviously is what’s important in today’s game. But you have to do more. We’ve seen guys that flat out can shoot, but if they can’t defend and they can’t add to the game, they’re not as valuable. It’s a big part of the game, but we’re also looking if a player has other strengths. If they’re not broken as a shooter, I think we’ll be able to use them with the right lineups.”
But the Heat also has other options, like trading the 20th pick. Technically, Miami isn’t allowed to trade the selection because its 2021 first-round pick was already dealt as part of the 2015 trade for Goran Dragic, and the NBA doesn’t allow teams to be without consecutive future first-round picks.
There’s one loophole, though: The Heat could make a prearranged trade to draft a player and immediately deal him to another team.
With draft experts complimenting the depth in the middle of this year’s class, there could be a case made for Miami to pick for another team at No. 20 in exchange for a selection later in the draft, possibly in the second round, and a future pick.
The Heat is currently not eligible to trade an unprotected first-round pick until 2028. And with teams only allowed to deal draft picks up to seven drafts into the future, that means the Heat does not have an unprotected first-round selection to offer in a potential trade at the moment because the 2028 draft is nine drafts away and will still be eight drafts away after Wednesday’s draft is completed.
The 2022 and 2024 first-round selections are off the table because the 2023 first-round selection was already traded to the Los Angeles Clippers to help facilitate the four-team deal that brought Jimmy Butler to Miami last offseason. The Clippers then traded the Heat’s 2023 pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder to acquire Paul George last year.
Draft protections on the 2023 first-round selection that run until 2026 tie the other years up. Miami’s 2023 first-round pick that was traded is lottery protected in 2023, lottery protected in 2024 if it doesn’t convey in 2023, lottery protected in 2025 if it doesn’t convey in 2024, and unprotected in 2026 if it’s not already conveyed to the Thunder by then.
The Heat can unlock a first-round pick to put in a trade, but it has to first acquire a first-round selection from another team.
This could be one of the biggest arguments for the Heat to make a prearranged trade to pick for another team at No. 20 as part of a package in exchange for a future unprotected first-rounder in 2021, 2022 or 2023 (which may be hard since Miami does not own a lottery pick this year).
The Heat could also use the 20th pick as part of a package to acquire an NBA player, since picking for a team is one way to overcome the restrictions it faces in sending out first-round selections in trades.
Another draft option for the Heat is to just buy its way into the second round. The amount of cash a team can pay or receive per season is limited to the “Maximum Annual Cash Limit” ($5.6 million for this season), and the Heat still has all of it remaining to spend on a selection in the draft since it hasn’t sent out any money in a deal this year yet.
Players whom the Heat has landed in the second round include KZ Okpala at No. 32 last year, Josh Richardson at No. 40 in 2015, James Ennis at No. 50 in 2013, Justin Hamilton at No. 45 in 2012, Dexter Pittman at No. 32 in 2010, Mario Chalmers at No. 34 in 2008 and Rasual Butler at No. 53 in 2002.
The Heat certainly has options. Now it’s time for Miami to choose which ones it will put into action during Wednesday’s draft.
“There are good players and there will always be players that slip, whether they’re under evaluated or they just get better when they get to the NBA,” Simon said. “Those things happen. But I think across the board, time will tell whether it’s a great draft or not. But there are good players that are going to be picked at the top, in the middle, and then they’ll be some that don’t make it through to the first round that are going to be good in the second round as well.”
FULLY GUARANTEED
The Heat fully guaranteed the $1.7 million salaries for both forward Duncan Robinson and guard Kendrick Nunn for this upcoming season, league sources confirmed to the Miami Herald.
Robinson had a $1 million guarantee deadline on Nov. 28 and the rest of his salary was scheduled to be guaranteed on opening night. Nunn had a $300,000 guarantee on opening night and the rest of his salary was set to be guaranteed during the season.
This proactive move is not a surprise, considering both Robinson and Nunn are on affordable contracts and played as Heat starters for most of last season. Robinson and Nunn will become restricted free agents in the 2021 offseason.
This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 2:46 PM.
