Heat ‘Desperation’ Trade for $160 Million Star Would Require Help of ‘Nemesis’

The Miami Heat remain in an enviable position in the NBA. They have a young star big man to whom they’ve committed—Bam Adebayo—as well as a young scorer (Tyler Herro) and a star-caliber two-way wing (Jimmy Butler). That’s the foundation, generally speaking, for NBA success.

But, no doubt, the Heat need to make a change. They have not kept up with the talent surge in the Eastern Conference in the last year-plus, obviously well behind the Boston Celtics but now slipping behind the Knicks and Sixers and, at best, on the same level as the Cavaliers, Magic, Bucks and Pacers.

At best, the Heat are the No. 4 seed in the East. Far more likely, they’re a play-in team.

Rumors that the Heat want to maintain flexibility to acquire another star-caliber player have gotten old, but that’s where we are. They’ve been connected to Jazz big man Lauri Markkanen, who might well not be traded, and DeMar DeRozan, who signed with Sacramento instead.

One player who could rescue a bummer of a Miami Heat offseason, though, lingers on the trade market: forward Jerami Grant. But a deal would require the Heat—and the Blazers, for that matter—to bury the hatchet from last year’s bitter Damian Lillard trade talks (or lack thereof) and focus on the now.

Like it or not, the Blazers should be a bit desperate to move off of Grant, and the Heat should be desperate to get him. As one Western Conference executive told Heavy Sports, “I think that it would come down to desperation vs.  desperation in a trade for him.”

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Jerami Grant Contract a Tough One to Trade

Difficulty in getting Grant to Miami goes beyond the poison pill keeping the two franchises apart, though.

Before the Lillard mess unfolded, Portland took the odd step last summer of signing Grant to a major new contract worth $160 million over five years early last offseason. But Lillard’s departure set the Blazers into the throes of a rebuild, and Grant has no place with the franchise now.

The Heat would consider trading for Grant as helping Portland out, taking a bad contract off their hands. The Blazers, though, would consider themselves dealing a high-scoring asset to Miami and would want to be compensated accordingly.

Grant averaged 21.0 points on 45.1% shooting last year, with a remarkably low rebound total (3.5 per game) for a power forward. He struggled with injuries, playing just 54 games for the lowly Blazers.

But has turned himself into a 3-point marksman recently, shooting 40.1% from the arc on 5.7 attempts in 2022-23 and making 40.2% on 5.1 attempts last year. That makes him an ideal fit at the 4 spot next to Adebayo.

A credible offer from the Heat could be the contract of Terry Rozier (which has two year and $51 million remaining), plus the Heat’s first-round pick from the 2024 draft, Kel’el Ware. That reduces the Blazers’ financial commitment and provides a young asset.

A swap of Tyler Herro for Grant makes sense, too, except that Portland made clear last year that it does not rate Herro much as a trade asset.

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Heat Would Again Have to Deal With ‘Stubborn’ Blazers

Here’s how the executive put it:

“Jerami Grant can play, he is a shooter, he is a good, active defender when he is engaged, he is going to do a lot of things that help your team. But he is a third option. He has some big numbers the last few years, but he has done it on terrible teams. No one is going to make a big trade for a guy who gives you 20 (points) on a bad team and 13 (points) on a good one.

“Not with his contract. He is going to make $30 (million) next year $32 the year after that. Then he has two more years. You can’t pay your third option $34, 35 million. If Portland wants the Lakers, the Heat, any of these teams to take him, they’ve got to recognize that. The Heat, obviously, that’s their nemesis.”

The problem, though, is that Blazers want something in the range of two first-rounders for Grant. They’re not going to get it, but if we learned something about Portland’s Joe Cronin last year, it’s that he will stick to his guns, even at his own expense.

“They’re stubborn,” the exec said of the Blazers. “Part of the job is to be stubborn, though. But part of the job is also seeing your mistakes and getting out of them. Grant was a mistake. Trading him now just to get out of that salary is the right thing to do, take whatever picks or young guys you can get.”

 

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