What will the Heat do before trade deadline? A look at the possibilities, factors at play
The noise surrounding the Miami Heat entering this season’s NBA trade deadline is louder than usual.
The list of players linked to the Heat entering the deadline is long, with Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry, San Antonio Spurs power forward/center LaMarcus Aldridge, Houston Rockets guard Victor Oladipo and Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie among those recently rumored to be Heat targets.
Then there’s the fact that the Heat (22-22) dropped its fourth consecutive game in a 110-100 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena to fall back to .500 through 44 games.
The combination of endless rumors and a losing skid has many wondering what the Heat’s roster will look like when it takes the court next to host the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. (Fox Sports Sun, TNT) — just a few hours after Thursday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline. Also, just a handful of months after the Heat represented the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals and finished two wins short of a championship last season.
“It’s one of those things where business is business,” said Heat cornerstone Bam Adebayo, who is one of the team’s only players who has not been included in recent trade speculation. “But at the end of the day, a lot of guys got families and they want to be here. They want to win.
“Everybody knows it’s business at the end of the day. But I feel like, yeah, there are a lot of dudes that probably are scrolling on social media and people are probably saying: ‘You should be traded,’ or, ‘You gotta be outta here.’ It’s probably a lot of extra weight on their shoulders than there should be.”
Lowry, a six-time All-Star who turns 35 on Thursday, is the one who will likely define how this year’s trade deadline is remembered for the Heat.
Miami’s interest in trading for Lowry has been confirmed by multiple league sources, and Lowry has interest in joining the Heat in part because of his close friendship with Jimmy Butler. The Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Clippers are among the other teams who have shown interest in Lowry.
Lowry entered Wednesday averaging 17.6 points while shooting 43.8 percent from the field and 39.1 percent on 7.2 three-point shot attempts per game, to go with 5.6 rebounds and 7.4 assists this season for a Raptors team that looks like it needs some type of roster reset. Toronto has dropped nine in a row and is in 11th place in the Eastern Conference with a 17-26 record.
The challenge in trading for Lowry is tied to his $30.5 million salary for this season as part of an expiring contract. The Heat would need to send out at least about $24 million in salary to trade for Lowry in accordance with NBA rules.
That would necessitate the Heat parting ways with multiple rotation players and significantly altering the look of its roster.
Not counting Adebayo and Butler, because the Heat will not include those two in a trade, the three highest salaries on the roster are Goran Dragic ($18 million salary for this season), Andre Iguodala ($15 million) and Kelly Olynyk ($12.6 million). One of those three players would very likely need to be included as part of the Heat’s package to get up to the $24 million threshold needed to acquire Lowry.
But the Raptors are expected to want a young asset from the Heat, too. Tyler Herro ($3.8 million), Precious Achiuwa ($2.6 million) or Duncan Robinson ($1.7 million) could be attached to those bigger Heat contracts to facilitate a trade for Lowry.
The question is: Which young assets, if any, is the Heat willing to deal for a soon-to-be 35-year-old Lowry?
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Tuesday night that the Raptors are “discussing Kyle Lowry and Norman Powell deals on multiple fronts and those talks are expected to extend into Wednesday — and perhaps even Thursday. Philadelphia, Miami are interested in Lowry, but both have shown restraint in how far they’ll go to get a deal.”
Other salaries belonging to Avery Bradley ($5.6 million), Moe Harkless ($3.6 million), Kendrick Nunn ($1.7 million) and KZ Okpala ($1.5 million) are among the other options to include in a deal to make the trade math work.
It’s worth noting that the Heat stands about $5.4 million below the luxury-tax line this season. A deal that would bring in $5.4 million or more than Miami sends out would make it a tax team, which is a place the Heat did not want to be entering the season.
If Toronto wants draft compensation in return for Lowry, Miami would need to reach an agreement with Oklahoma City to unlock protections on the 2023 Heat first-rounder that is due to the Thunder. The Heat would then be allowed to trade its 2025 and/or 2027 first-rounders to the Raptors.
There’s also the possibility of getting more players and teams involved to facilitate a trade.
With Lowry becoming an unrestricted free agent this upcoming offseason, a trade would likely be contingent on the Heat expecting a long-term commitment from him this summer. Miami would be acquiring his Bird Rights in a trade, allowing the Heat to surpass the salary cap to sign him this offseason.
Lowry is still playing at a high level and can help Miami’s struggling offense with his playmaking and outside shooting, while strengthening a defense that can use another reliable perimeter defender. Miami entered Wednesday with the NBA’s sixth-worst offensive rating and third-worst team three-point percentage this season.
The Heat has shot just 27.7 percent on threes during its current four-game losing skid.
“We’re certainly better than what we’ve shown the last four games on the offensive end,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Before that for the previous weeks, we all really liked the direction of where our offense was going. We’re just going through a tough stretch offensively and we’ll work together to find some solutions.”
A trade could end up being part of the solution. The Heat already made one trade last week, acquiring veteran forward Trevor Ariza from the Thunder.
Or the Heat could allow the deadline to pass and simply stick with its current roster.
“Guys have to go through this every single year, and it just gets noisier and noisier,” Spoelstra said of the looming trade deadline. “It is much different than it was 20 years ago, just the amount of rumors, but that’s part of being a professional in this business is learning to compartmentalize.”
▪ As for some of the other named linked to the Heat ...
There remains strong interest in Aldridge if he’s bought out.
SportsNet New York previously reported the Heat’s interest in trading for Dinwiddie, who is expected to decline a $12.3 million player option for 2021-22. But Dinwiddie could miss the rest of the season because of a partially torn ACL that required surgery, so a trade for Dinwiddie is probably more of a long-term play because Miami would acquire his Bird rights in a trade.
The Heat has been linked to Oladipo, an impending free agent, for months. Oladipo, 28, has interest in joining the Heat, and that’s well known at this point. But Miami can also just sign him outright in free agency this upcoming offseason.
INJURY REPORT
The Heat will remain without forwards Udonis Haslem and KZ Okpala on Thursday against the Trail Blazers because both are in the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
Guards Avery Bradley (right calf strain) and Goran Dragic (lower back spasms) are listed as questionable for the contest.
This story was originally published March 24, 2021 at 12:05 PM.
