Heat Have ‘Hoped’ to Land 23-Year-Old Big Man From Utah Jazz, Report

Getty Jarred Vanderbilt attends the 2022 ESPYs at Dolby Theatre on July 20, 2022 in Hollywood, California.

The Miami Heat have gotten off to a slow start to the 2022-23 NBA season and currently sit with a 2-4 record. Their most recent loss came on Thursday, October 27, against the Golden State Warriors. Despite having 53 combined points from Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, the Heat lost 123-110, and it’s evident that the Het may need more help.

Both Butler and Adebayo did a bit of everything for the team in the loss. Not only did Butler score 27 points, but he also grabbed 6 rebounds, had 8 assists, and came away with an impressive 6 steals in the loss. Adebayo had 26 points of his own, 8 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 blocks. 

All offseason it was known that the Heat were looking for another star to take some of the pressure off of Butler and Adebayo. They didn’t bring any new players in. Tyler Herro was given an extension, and he is the hope to be a third star in Miami’s starting lineup but has some room to grow before he makes that leap.

Miami’s biggest weakness on paper looks to be at power forward, and the Heat have been linked to players like Bojan Bogdanovic, Lauri Markkanen, Kyle Kuzma, and more. However, the ones that they have actually made offers on only appears to be Jae Crowder at the moment, until an NBA executive shared another forward the Heat have targeted. 

Heat Have Targeted Jarred Vanderbilt, per Executive

Earlier this week, an Eastern Conference Executive told Heavy Sports’ NBA Insider Sean Deveney that the Heat have looked for players like Crowder but revealed a new player that Miami has hoped to trade for and that is Jarred Vanderbilt from the Utah Jazz. 

“They’ve been quiet on that lately. They looked at Jae Crowder. They hoped to get Utah to give up Jarred Vanderbilt—they want defense at that spot. They are not desperate, though. They want to see what they have with guys like Caleb Martin, see how he handles that spot,” the executive told Heavy Sports. 

Vanderbilt has been impressive thus far in Utah, averaging 9 points and 9.8 rebounds per game, but his defense is what intrigues them. Vanderbilt is a quality big man that can defend multiple positions, and thus far this season, is averaging 2 steals per game. 

Heat Not Just Looking at Power Forward

However, while all of the talks for Heat transactions are focused on addressing the power forward position, the executive noted that that might not be all the Heat are looking for in potential trades. 

“They have other needs, too. Everybody assumes they’re worried about the power forward spot, but they’re worried about the depth overall, too. It is something that they can address later in the year if they decide they don’t like what they have.”

One of the intriguing names that was thrown out as a possibility for the Heat was the scoring guard from the Charlotte Hornets, Terry Rozier. 

“The problem is they do not want to just dump him for not much in return. They could get a rebuilding team to take him on, like an Oklahoma City or San Antonio, and they’d hold onto him for a year, then trade him again over the summer like we’ve seen the Thunder do so many times. But the Heat would have to send Robinson and a pick out to do that, and they are not interested in that. Not yet, at least. If they can get back a player who can help them, like Josh Richardson in San Antonio or Terry Rozier from the Hornets, they would have to be willing to put up that draft capital. They can make both of those deals pretty much straight up or include (Omer) Yurtseven if they need to,” the Eastern Conference Executive told Heavy.