The Miami Heat‘s No. 1 goal this offseason is to land Brooklyn Nets supertstar Kevin Durant, and if that doesn’t pan out, the team will focus their efforts on trading for Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell. Miami isn’t being shy with their intentions, as they will likely need a third team to facilitate either blockbuster trade.
While the Heat can’t currently offer up two handfuls of first-round picks like the New York Knicks, they’re working behind the scenes, “trying to go find multiple picks to either send to Utah for Donovan or send to Brooklyn for Kevin Durant,” Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer revealed on Friday’s episode of his podcast.
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“Does the Knicks waiting and not upping their offer, not meeting the Jazz’s asking price sacrifice their odds to go get him or give Miami more time? Not really, because Miami is trying to compete with what the New York ultimate offer could be,” Fischer said on Please Don’t Aggregate This.
“The longer it goes on, I don’t think that decreases any team’s chances. But I think it would increase someone like Mimia, to at least have the assets to make a deal happen.”
Five Reasons on the Floor reporter Greg Sylvander shared an identical report on Friday’s episode of his Off the Floor podcast. Sylvander said, “In the last 18 hours, the Heat have been discussing several trade scenarios to acquire additional draft picks according to multiple sources. This may end up being one of the more creative processes if they find a way.”
It seems the Heat are taking Wojnarowski’s advice, as he said on the July 3 episode of SportsCenter said of landing the two-time Finals MVP, “The market is still taking shape. I think it’s incumbent on some of the other teams to be creative and start bringing to Brooklyn ideas, going out and seeing if they can get players, picks that would put the kind of package together it would take to get Kevin Durant.”
Suns’ Star Deandre Ayton Helped Miami in the Durant Sweepstakes
Largest offer sheet in NBA History for Deandre Ayton. 😳🔥
Immediately after Durant announced he wanted a trade out of Brooklyn on June 30, Miami was named as one of the top “wish list” destinations for the 33-year-old power forward, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, along with the Phoenix Suns.
However, a new development on Thursday, July 14 might’ve taken Phoenix out of the Durant sweepstakes altogether after re-signing center Deandre Ayton.
While Ayton initially signed a four-year, $133 million maximum contract offer sheet with the Indiana Pacers, as first reported by Wojnarowski, the Suns immediately matched the offer to keep the former first-overall pick from the 2018 NBA Draft in Phoenix.
After matching the Pacers’ offer, “They can’t trade Ayton anywhere until at least Jan. 15 — and can’t trade him to Indiana for a year. Ayton will also have veto power on any trade for a year,” Wojnarowski noted.
Get it done, Pat !
The Suns’ strongest trade proposal to land Durant was centered around Ayton, 23, and Mikal Bridges, 25, but with the former becoming untradeable, the Heat’s best offer becomes all the more appealing for the Nets. Unless Brooklyn trades Ben Simmons, Phoenix also can’t include Devin Booker in any trade proposals, as the Designated Rookie Extension rule prohibits teams from acquiring two players via trade signed to that type of contract.
That same rule is why the Heat can’t include All-Star center Bam Adebayo in an offer for Durant unless Simmons is traded. However, they can center an offer around the NBA’s 2022 Sixth Man of the Year award winner, Tyler Herro, while including their unprotected 2023 and 2028 first round picks, Nikola Jovic, along with whichever draft picks they can assemble this summer.
The Heat Are Urged to Trade for Mitchell Instead of Nets Superstar Kevin Durant
“He’s absolutely better, but he’s not enormously better where it’s a no-brainer considering all the other assets Utah would want,”
– West Scout on Donovan Mitchell being better than Tyler Herro
(Via The Miami Herald)
While the Heat remain focused on Durant, ESPN’s NBA Insider Kevin Pelton recently urged Miami to dedicate all their time and energy on landing Mitchell instead.
“Durant turns 34 in September, which puts him in the same range as Miami starters Jimmy Butler (33 in September) and Kyle Lowry (36),” Pelton wrote. “By contrast, the 25-year-old Mitchell would reset the Heat’s timeline and align it with 24-year-old center Bam Adebayo. And if Miami doesn’t think the Nets will ultimately trade Durant, this might be its best chance to land a third star while [Jimmy] Butler is in his late prime.”
Despite his age, however, Durant remains one of the best players in the NBA. Last season, the 6-foot-10 forward averaged 29.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 6.4 assists per game, while shooting 51.8% from the field and 38.3% from beyond the arc.
As for Mitchell, he averaged 25.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 1.5 steals per game last season.
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Heat Working to Acquire ‘Multiple’ Picks for Blockbuster Trade: Report