Heat ‘Willing’ to Trade Key $85 Million Starter, Per Report

Getty Head coach Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat.

After one and a quarter disappointing seasons for Miami Heat point guard Kyle Lowry, the Heat are “willing” to move Lowry, according to Fox Sports’ Ric Bucher.

“One league source said the Heat are willing to move Kyle Lowry, but at 37, and with another year left on a three-year $85 million deal, it’s hard to identify a team that would take him on and provide the Heat with an upgrade,” Bucher wrote on December 3 in his “Front Office Confidential” column.

Lowry, who will turn 37 in March, is averaging 13.7 points in his 87 games with the Heat, almost 4 points off the average he established in his nine seasons with the Toronto Raptors. His shooting percentage (42.9%) and rebounds (4.6 per game) with Miami are consistent with his career numbers, but his assists (7.1) are actually up by almost one assist per game.

And over his last seven games, he has increased his average to 16.4 points a game. He also had a season-high 28-point performance on November 23 against the Washington Wizards. Could his recent play increase his trade potential with three months to go before the February 9 trade deadline? Or is it the play the Heat have been waiting for that they expected when acquiring him before the 2021 season?

Exec: Heat Fared Better With Gabe Vincent

Lowry, who said he dealt with personal issues last season and a hamstring injury during the Heat’s postseason run to the Eastern Conference finals, was signed with the expectation he would be Miami’s new leader. But, according to one Eastern Conference executive, Lowry’s performance in the postseason showed that backup guard Gabe Vincent was the best option for the team.

“Go back and watch them in the playoffs last year,” the executive told Heavy in September 2022. “I think the dirty little secret there is that they were better with Gabe Vincent on the floor than with Kyle Lowry. Now, to be fair to Lowry, he was not healthy, that was obvious. But on the other side, they were really good with Vincent in there. He did not play lights-out but he could get the ball to Jimmy [Butler] and get out of the way, then play some defense on the other side. So they’re fine with him as the backup.

“The problem is, if Lowry has trouble staying healthy again, you’re going to have Herro playing backup point guard and Oladipo playing backup point guard. That’s not the ideal setup. But they’re more concerned about the tax right now so I don’t see them making any real changes,” the executive said.

Lowry has managed to remain healthy, starting in all 24 of the Heat’s games this season. Meanwhile, Vincent, 26, has appeared in 19 games this season with no starts, averaging 8.8 points and 2.9 assists per game. Those numbers are consistent with his output in 2021-22, when he appeared in 68 games and started 27 of them.

Heat’s ‘Big Four’ & Their Recent Run

Lowry’s recent resurgence puts him squarely among what Heat coach Erik Spoelstra called the “big four” along with Butler, Herro and center Bam Adebayo. Each player scored 20-plus points in their impressive win against the Boston Celtics on December 2. Following the win, Adebayo called the Heat “hard to beat” when they get performances like that from their key four players.

“It’s our big four,” said Adebayo, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “It’s who we depend on most throughout the game on both sides of the court. … When you’re missing one of the pieces, you can tell. But when we’re all together, I feel like we’re hard to beat.”

The Heat (11-13) have won four of their last six but still sit in ninth place in the Eastern Conference playoff race.