Getty Erik Spoelstra, Miami Heat coach.
It’s been a year of Miami Heat trade rumors, and with the league’s deal deadline coming in February, it could will be another three months of the same. One name that has been floated in connection with the Heat could gain some traction, according to executives around the NBA: Wizards guard Tyus Jones.
Jones is a nine-year veteran who has played four seasons with the Timberwolves and four with the Grizzlies before he was dealt to the Wizards as part of the Kristaps Porzingis deal last offseason. He has been good for the Wizards thus far this season, with 10.4 points and 4.7 assists, making 36.6% of his 3-pointers and 49.2% of his shots overall.
But Jones is 27 and a bit out of step with the Wizards’ rebuilding plans. Washington is very much in asset-collection mode, league sources say, and Jones is a veteran who could be converted into picks.
“He is another guy a lot of contenders are going to be watching,” one Eastern Conference executive told Heavy Sports. “If you’re the Heat, they’re looking at him, when it comes time to add a guard, which I think everyone expects they’ll do. He is a tough guy, he will come off the bench, he will do whatever the role you want filled is. He is a little bit of a bulldog.
“The trouble is always making the money work.”
Tyus Jones for a 1st-Round Pick?
The good news for such a Miami Heat trade rumor is that a Tyus Jones deal would not be all that expensive. He is in the second year of a two-year, $29 million extension, and most teams would not have much trouble matching salaries.
But the Heat would. Assuming Miami does not want to give up Caleb Martin (it does not), the only way to make a Tyus Jones trade work would be to send Kyle Lowry’s $30 million deal to Washington and take back some other unwanted Wizards contracts—Delon Wright and Danilo Gallinari, for example.
If the Heat would not give up a young player like Nikola Jovic, the Wizards would certainly want back an unprotected first-round pick. That would probably be a fair price, considering the Wizards would then like waive Lowry anyway. The Heat could do the same with Wright and/or Gallinari.
Important to note for any Miami Heat trade rumor: The Heat owe Oklahoma City a first-round pick in 2025, so, under NBA rules, the earliest the Heat could trade a pick would be 2027.
Miami Heat Trade Rumors in Full Swing
Still, it is only November and much could change. But even as guard Josh Richardson has begun to play better lately, and even with the impending return of Tyler Herro from his early season ankle injury, the Miami Heat trade rumor mill is in full swing.
Coach Erik Spoelstra does not appear all that confident in giving either Lowry or Dru Smith significant minutes, so the team will need to address the point-guard depth problem in the coming weeks.
“I don’t think anyone is going to want to give up too much for Tyus Jones,” the exec said. “He is (going to be) a free agent who is just not quite a starter but should play a fair amount. So, it is not a situation where there is going to be a bidding war. But it will cost a first-round pick to get something done.”