No Lowry, but Heat adds Oladipo and Bjelica at NBA trade deadline. Here’s what to know
The Miami Heat didn’t end up with Kyle Lowry. But the Heat did add a former All-Star to its roster on trade deadline day.
The Heat acquired guard Victor Oladipo, a two-time All-Star, in a trade with the Houston Rockets finalized just around the 3 p.m. trade deadline on Thursday, a league source confirmed to the Miami Herald. Miami traded guard Avery Bradley and center Kelly Olynyk to make the salary-cap math work to acquire Oladipo, and agreed to a 2022 first-round pick swap.
ESPN first reported the deal.
The Heat pursued Lowry up until the trade deadline, but Miami’s reluctance to include second-year guard Tyler Herro in offers appeared to be the deal-breaker. Heat sharpshooter Duncan Robinson, 26, was believed to be at the center of the Heat’s offers for Lowry.
In the end, the Heat was able to keep its young core intact with Herro, Robinson and rookie Precious Achiuwa remaining in Miami past the trade deadline. And the Raptors held on to Lowry.
“I’m sure there are a lot of emotions for everybody and the range of emotions are different depending on what your circumstance is” coach Erik Spoelstra said of the Heat’s roster shake-up in advance of Thursday night’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers at AmericanAirlines Arena. “That’s the reality. There’s a human side to it, for sure. Then there’s the business side of it and you have to be able to compartmentalize the two and be ready for competition when it happens. The actual day, there’s usually a lot more hype and a lot less action than what is speculated. That was probably true this year, as well.”
Oladipo, 28, has averaged 20.8 points while shooting 41.1 percent from the field and 33.3 percent on threes, five rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.3 steals in 29 games this season. He has averaged 21.2 points on 40.7 percent shooting from the field and 32 percent shooting on threes, 4.8 rebounds and five assists in 20 games with the Rockets since the Indiana Pacers traded him to Houston in January as part of the deal that sent James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets.
Oladipo has long had interest in joining the Heat and spends a lot of his offseason time in Miami. As a talented two-way perimeter threat, he adds another playmaker to the Heat’s struggling offense and also can strengthen the Heat’s defense as a very capable perimeter defender that can help take some of the pressure off Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler.
Oladipo’s best NBA season came with the Pacers in 2017-18, when he averaged a career-high 23.1 points while shooting 47.7 percent from the field and 37.1 percent on threes, to go with 5.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.4 steals. He was voted to the All-Star Game, NBA All-Defensive First Team and All-NBA Third Team, and earned the NBA’s Most Improved Player award that season.
But Oladipo suffered a ruptured quad tendon in his right knee in January 2019, and he missed the rest of the 2018-19 season.
Oladipo returned from the injury a year later in January 2020 and displayed flashes of his pre-injury self. He averaged 17.8 points on 39.3 percent shooting, 3.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists in last season’s first-round playoff series against the Heat.
Both the Pacers and Rockets took a cautious approach with Oladipo this season, as he has yet to play in both games of a back-to-back set since the regular season began in December.
Oladipo, who is earning $21 million this season on an expiring contract, will be an unrestricted free agent this upcoming offseason. The Heat acquired his Bird Rights in the trade, allowing Miami to surpass the salary cap if it wants to re-sign him this offseason.
The Heat also acquired forward Nemanja Bjelica (6-10, 234) in a trade with the Sacramento Kings earlier in the day. Miami traded forward Moe Harkless and center Chris Silva to the Kings to complete the deal.
Bjelica, 32, is averaging 7.2 points while shooting 46 percent from the field and 29.3 percent on threes, 3.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 26 games (one start) this season. He was out of the Kings’ rotation earlier this season, but has earned consistent playing time off the bench in the past four weeks.
The Kings used Bjelica in a larger role last season, when he averaged 11.5 points while shooting 41.9 percent on threes, 6.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 72 games (67 starts).
Bjelica is earning $7.2 million on an expiring contract. The Heat also acquired his Bird Rights in the trade.
With Olynyk traded to the Rockets, Bjelica will help fill his void in the Heat’s system as a three-point shooting big.
All three of the players the Heat added via trade in recent weeks — forward Trevor Ariza, Oladipo and Bjelica — are on expiring contracts that help preserve Miami’s salary-cap flexibility entering the 2021 offseason.
Thursday’s trades that sent out Olynyk, Bradley, Harkless and Silva to acquire Oladipo and Bjelica left the Heat with two open roster spots. Miami is considered one of the front-runners to sign center/forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who reportedly agreed to a buyout with the San Antonio Spurs shortly after Thursday’s trade deadline to become a free agent.
Olynyk was used as a consistent starter in the Heat’s frontcourt this season, but he’s shooting a career-low 31.7 percent on threes. Bradley has been limited to 10 games this season because of a COVID-19 diagnosis and injuries, and Harkless and Silva also were not regulars in Miami’s rotation as each played in 11 games this season.
The Heat’s 2022 pick swap that the Rockets got in the trade will most likely involve the first-round pick Houston holds from Brooklyn, as the Nets are expected to be one of the NBA’s top teams again next season with their All-Star trio of James Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. That could have Miami picking toward the end of the first round in 2022.
The Heat’s roster now includes 13 players on standard contracts, two below the league maximum of 15: Achiuwa, Adebayo, Ariza, Butler, Bjelica, Goran Dragic, Udonis Haslem, Herro, Andre Iguodala, Kendrick Nunn, KZ Okpala, Oladipo and Robinson. Miami also has two two-way contract players in Max Strus and Gabe Vincent.
Miami, which stands at .500 through 44 games after representing the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals last season, will have just nine available players in Thursday’s game against the Trail Blazers following the trades. Butler (stomach illness), Dragic (lower back spasms), Haslem (health and safety protocols) and Okpala (health and safety protocols) have been ruled out.
The Heat is now about $747,000 below the luxury-tax line. That gives the Heat just enough room to sign a buyout candidate like Aldridge to a minimum contract in the coming days, as a prorated veteran minimum contract as of Saturday is about $566,000, according to ESPN analyst and former NBA executive Bobby Marks.
But with room under the tax for only one minimum deal at the moment, the Heat may opt to fill just one of its two empty roster spots in the coming days.
This story was originally published March 25, 2021 at 3:37 PM.
