Getty Miami Heat president Pat Riley
Going back to the end of the NBA regular season, and, indeed, going back for most of the past year, the Miami Heat have been most frequently linked with one potential star acquisition as the team tries to reverse its fortunes following last year’s bitter and injury-plagued ending to the season, in a five-game drubbing by the Celtics. That player: Donovan Mitchell.
Perhaps, if anyone could figure out how to get Mitchell to South Beach, it would be Pat Riley.
Alas, no. Instead, the Cavaliers signed Mitchell to a three-year contract extension on Tuesday, with a player option on the third year, putting him out of trade reach for the Heat. Miami is now running out of options when it comes to making a major move in the offseason to add another star-caliber player.
What makes that fact a bit more worrisome is the notion that the rest of the Eastern Conference seems to be improving while the Heat are trading water. Not only will the Cavs be keeping Mitchell, but the Celtics will return at full strength, the Knicks added star wing Mikal Bridges, the Magic added Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and, in what might be the highest impact move of the summer, the Sixers added Paul George.
The Heat won 46 games last year, but were eighth in the East and earned a playoff spot only by splitting their play-in tournament games.
Miami Heat Trade Would Have Been a ‘Long Shot’
The Heat would have been in good position to make a credible offer for Mitchell, had he been put on the market. But since the end of the season, in which the Cavs won their opening playoff series before losing to the Celtics in Round 2, it was clear that Cleveland had reason to be optimistic about keeping Mitchell.
Might a package built around Tyler Herro, Nikola Jovic and two first-round picks have been enough to tempt the Cavs into a trade for Mitchell? Maybe. But we’ll never know now.
As the Miami Herald reported: “Pulling off a trade for a play of Mitchell’s caliber and salary was always considered a long shot anyway, with the Heat’s salary-cap situation making that challenging.
“Among the trade restrictions the Miami Heat faces as a team on track to be above the first apron: Miami can’t take back more money in a trade than it sends out, won’t be allowed to use a preexisting trade exception and can’t acquire a player through a sign-and-trade. And aggregating salaries in a trade would hard cap the Heat at the second apron. The Mitchell to the Heat dream is dead … for now.”
Donovan Mitchell Gets $150 Million
Mitchell, a five-time All-Star, agreed on a maximum-contract extension for $150 million over three years.
Mitchell himself confirmed the deal with a post on Twitter/X, which included a photo of himself on the floor in a Cavaliers uniform during the first-round series between Cleveland and Orlando, alongside a GIF from the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” in which Leonardo DiCaprio’s character declares, “I’m not leaving!”
That’s good news for the Cavaliers who have had some anxious moments over the past couple of years since acquiring Mitchell from the Jazz in 2019. The team gave up Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton, Ochai Agbaji plus three first-round picks and two pick swaps to complete the trade for Mitchell, hoping to build a championship caliber roster around him.
It’s not such good news for the Miami Heat, however. Mitchell was, in fact, the star dream for the team. But much like last year and the unfruitful chatter around Damian Lillard, it appears that the Heat are looking at another mostly quiet NBA offseason.