Getty Marvin Bagley III #35 of the Sacramento Kings in action against the Portland Trail Blazers at Golden 1 Center on January 13, 2021.
Following an early exit from the playoffs, the Miami Heat are already laser-focused on how to successfully rebuild for next season. Considering they have no picks in this year’s NBA Draft, they have to make magic happen in free agency, or work out a trade in order to pull off a meaningful restructure.
While the Heat have been linked to numerous possible free agents, Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson proposed quite a brilliant trade proposal for the franchise to obtain Sacramento Kings forward Marvin Bagley III, who clearly wants to play for a different team next season.
Back in January, Bagley’s father tweeted for the Kings to “PLEASE trade Marvin Bagley III ASAP!” while the former No. 2 overall pick deleted “Sacramento King” from his Twitter bio after the regular season concluded.
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Bagley, 22, finished the season averaging 14.1 points on 50.4% shooting and 7.4 rebounds. Since he was drafted in 2018, the Duke alum has averaged 14.5 points and 7.5 rebounds. Jackson reported, “Bagley has just one season remaining on his contract before he can become a restricted free agent in the summer of 2022. So a trade for Bagley this offseason would not require a long-term commitment to him.”
“With Bagley earning $11.3 million next season, the Kings would be able to take back up to $16.3 million in salaries if it waited until August or later to trade him,” Jackson continued.
A trade for the 6-foot-11 forward, who’s already proved that he can perform at an All-Star level, averaging 19.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per 36 minutes of play, which is comparable with Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam, the Heat would be giving up longterm investments for young talent that’s ready to go. With Jimmy Butler turning 32 in September, the Heat are definitely in “win now” mode.
“The Heat could make a trade work within salary cap rules by including [Andre] Iguodala, who has a $15 million team option in his contract for next season. But the Kings would likely want a younger player in return for Bagley, and [Precious] Achiuwa or forward KZ Okapala are options, with Achiuwa potentially holding more appeal to the Kings.”
On the Downside, Bagley Is Already Injury Prone
While any player’s value decreases following an injury, it’s concerning that Bagley is already having so many issues at such a young age.
Jackson pointed out that Bagley “played in 118 games through his first three NBA seasons and 56 games during the past two seasons. Injuries that have forced Bagley to miss time include a sprained left knee, fractured right thumb, right foot sprain and a broken left hand.”
“Because of consistent injury issues, Bagley has never averaged more than 26 minutes per game in a single season during his young NBA career. The Heat accepted the injury risk that came with trading for Victor Oladipo this past season, and Miami would have to take on a similar risk if it makes a move for Bagley.”
Bleacher Report Named the Miami Heat as a Potential Landing Spot for 7 Upcoming Free Agents
According to Bleacher Report‘s Eric Pincus, the Heat are already frontrunners to land seven of the Top 20 players set to become free agents this summer. Pincus linked the Heat to the following pending free agents and/or players with upcoming contract opt-ins:
Indiana Pacers’ TJ McConnell
Los Angeles Lakers’ Alex Caruso
Los Angeles Lakers Dennis Schroder
Brooklyn Nets’ Spencer Dinwiddie
Dallas Mavericks’ Tim Hardaway Jr.
Miami Heat’s Duncan Robinson
Utah Jazz’s Mike Conley
Utah Jazz’s Chris Paul
Toronto Raptors’ Kyle Lowry
Los Angeles Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard
While obtaining Leonard is an obvious long shot, Lowry has been linked to the Heat since March, and reports of Miami being a possible new home for Hardawy Jr. started swirling in May. Overall, many of these free agents, such as 11-time All-Star Chris Paul, are linked to Miami because they’re one of the few franchises with cap space to take on these players’ high salaries.
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