Getty Cam Reddish #0 of the New York Knicks.
As evident over the last two seasons, the Miami Heat are unafraid to make a splash to improve its roster. The South Beach club lured away Jimmy Butler from the Philadelphia 76ers and followed that up by doing the same to Kyle Lowry and the Toronto Raptors.
And according to Ian Begley of SNY, the Heat are once again looking for ways to improve the roster, but face some stiff competition.
“[S]everal teams have expressed interest in trading for Reddish since the Knicks acquired him in January 2022,” Begley wrote on December 8. “The Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks are among the teams who reached out to New York in that span.”
Reddish, the 10th pick in the 2019 draft, has largely failed to live up to his draft-night billing. But so far this season, the 6’8 wing is shooting the ball significantly better and defending harder than in seasons past.
Why the Heat Have Interest in Reddish
Let’s start with this premise: the New York Knicks are far from the ideal spot for a youngster to fully develop all of their tools. Head coach Tom Thibodeau is far from a player-developer, often failing to prioritize promising youngsters (Obi Toppin, Immanuel Quickley) for experienced, though less talented veterans (Derrick Rose, Evan Fournier).
The Lakers, Heat and Bucks are among the teams to show interest in Cam Reddish this past year, per @IanBegley
Though, in fairness, the Knicks are Reddish’s second team since coming into the league just four summers ago. After flaming out in Atlanta (10.7 points on 37.8 percent from the field in his two full seasons), the Hawks sold out, netting Kevin Knox and a first-round pick in return.
This season though, Reddish has upped his shooting to an eFG of 51.1 percent, the first time in his career over the half-century mark. His field goal percentage is a career-best 44.9 percent, though still slacks behind the league-average mark of 46 percent.
Rather than the offensive flamethrower Hawks (and then Knicks) hoped he would develop into, Reddish has quietly put together his best defensive since those early days in the Peach City. His block rate is borderline-top-10th percentile among wings, and his steals rate is also above-average. The Heat could always use the defense, especially blocks, a category in which Miami currently ranks dead last on the season.
Reddish Not Saying Much on Potential Heat Move
Earlier this week, Stefan Bondy of New York Daily News reported that the Knicks were working on trading Reddish. But when confronted with the issue directly, Reddish remained adamant that he wasn’t the one looking to get out of Gotham.
“I haven’t requested any trades,” Reddish told reporters, per Peter Botte of the New York Post. “I have not. Y’all seem to know more than me, for real. I don’t know what y’all talking about, but I haven’t requested no trade, nothing like that.”
Watch Cam Reddish’s reaction to not receiving the ball from Julius Randle
Either way, it’s tantalizing to imagine head coach Erik Spoelstra getting to craft the former Duke Blue Devil to fit Miami’s culture. The organization has shown an almost preternatural ability to mold legit NBA contributors out of seemingly nothing. Now imagine someone with Reddish’s pedigree — a former blue chip — added to the fold.