The question in the wake of Thursday’s NBA trade deadline was one of: wouldn’t or couldn’t?
Because where the Miami Heat stood entering the process and where they stand exiting the process is not a place to be running in place.
Not bad enough to be lottery bad.
Not good enough to be contention good.
The fork in the road was right there in front of them, one a direction of resetting, one of augmenting.
But, somehow, they managed to take the road less traveled.
They could have taken the big swing, at least for Ja Morant if not Giannis Antetokounmpo.
They could have restocked for the future, as several lesser likes did during the run-up to 3 p.m. Thursday.
While perhaps dated, but also still iconic, the reference might as well be of Seinfeld’s George Costanza on that 1990s sitcom pitching a show about nothing to fictional network executive Russell Dalrymple.
Russell Dalrymple: “So what have you two come up with?”
George Costanza: “I think I can sum up the show for you in one word. Nothing.”
Russell Dalrymple: “Nothing?”
George Costanza: “Nothing.”
Russell Dalrymple: “What does that mean?”
George Costanza: “The show is about . . . nothing!”
Jerry Seinfeld: “Well, it’s not about nothing.”
George Costanza: “No, it’s about nothing.”
So there stood the NBA at the deadline in a relentless churn, teams doing far more than nothing, 28 trades in the week preceding the deadline’s final buzzer, involving 27 teams and 73 players.
None of them involving the Heat.
Now, if you’re the San Antonio Spurs and have built a colossus through the lottery, no need to move. And ditto for the Houston Rockets, with savvy drafting and an all-in offseason move for Kevin Durant setting the table.
And then there were the Heat.
Crickets.
The initial party line (in the void of public comment from management/ownership) was that business was handled in advance with four trades in the 12 months prior to Thursday’s deadline.
But all those moves did — beyond moving the Heat out of the luxury tax, and making it easier to complete July’s trade for Norman Powell — was again deliver a team to the deadline smack in the middle of the play-in bracket.
Now, no shame in swinging for the fences for Giannis. To do otherwise would have been malpractice and malfeasance. And if the Bucks balked, just like the Portland Trail Blazers did in the 2023 offseason with Damian Lillard, so be it. Safe to say, the Heat gave that their best shot (well, at least their Bam Adebayo-less best shot).
But NBA front offices and scouting departments are of far greater breadth than when the Heat first entered the NBA in 1988. It’s not as if the scouts, analysts, capologists, executives, owners weren’t positioned to pivot.
The pivot could have been toward Morant or some other talent that some/all in that brain trust consortium identified as a piece to get the roster over the top, instead the ongoing Sisyphean task of pushing the boulder up the play-in mountain.
To the Heat, Morant wasn’t a fit, for multiple reasons, and therefore the limited effort, according to an NBA source.
Or the pivot could have been to set up for better days ahead, to sell off in-the-moment assets and build toward a better future, with some teams acting as if subjects on A&E’s “Hoarders” when it came to collecting draft picks at the deadline.
One NBA source the Heat never were positioned to get a first-round pick for Andrew Wiggins, nor any draft capital of heft. The source said the Heat were not willing to offload for nominal draft capital.
This is not the lecture being offered elsewhere about tanking, which certainly appears to be the preferred method of rebuilding in today’s NBA. The Heat don’t do that, won’t do that, and with a coach as driven as Erik Spoelstra, probably can’t do that.
But there are plenty of brains in that brain trust, from Spoelstra to Pat Riley to Andy Elisburg to Adam Simon to Eric Amsler to Keith Askins to Nick Arison to Micky Arison. These are people that know basketball, know championship basketball.
Could any of them — any of them — candidly, lie-detector candidly, have said as 3 p.m. Thursday approached, that this roster, as comprised before the deadline and then after the deadline, is one capable of winning a championship or even contending for a championship this season?
Because this hardly is a roster designed to grow into that, with Powell extension-eligible, Tyler Herro in the offseason to be that again, as well, as for that matter will be Jaime Jaquez Jr., and with Wiggins possibly headed to free agency if he bypasses his player option.
Which is why something needed to happen Thursday or before Thursday, but certainly beyond the previous transactions of the preceding 12 months.
A show about nothing, as those appreciative of Seinfeld can attest, works as high comedy.
But an NBA trade deadline about nothing – “It’s about nothing” – only adds to the drama of yet another season going and gone sideways, with Friday night’s loss in Boston the latest blow.
IN THE LANE
A MORANT MOMENT: No, the Heat never got deep into discussions for Ja Morant. And, yes, the two seasons at $88 million beyond this season on his Memphis Grizzlies contract were significant in that deliberation. But so, too, according to an NBA party familiar with the consideration, was Morant’s lithe build. While the Heat over the years have succeeded with smaller guards, the majority of success stories with those of diminutive stature are those with stockier builds, such as Tim Hardaway, Goran Dragic, Kyle Lowry or even current bulldog Davion Mitchell. Morant is generously listed as 6-2, 174 pounds by the Grizzlies.
THE ROZIER DILEMMA: Then there was the Heat’s bypassing of putting into play at the deadline the $26.6 million expiring contract of Terry Rozier, which very much was eligible to be put into play, despite Rozier being on NBA leave while facing federal charges in the FBI gambling probe. While the possibilities of putting the deal into play largely was limited to some type of mega-trade that required salary balancing, such as a move for Giannis Antetokounmpo, there were other options. One would have been the contract of Sacramento Kings forward DeMar DeRozan, who has only $10 million guaranteed of his $25.7 million for next season. That would have given the Heat another contract to put into play, need be, for a potential deal during the 2026-27 cap calendar. Plus, for the always-live-in-the-moment Heat, a scoring option in case Tyler Herro doesn’t get quite right. A few more points certainly wouldn’t have hurt Friday night in Boston.
LESSON LEARNED: A lesson perhaps taken from the trade deadline for those who expected possible first-round capital for the Heat with a deal of Andrew Wiggins is that almost all of the first-rounders dealt at the deadline were for young players, mostly on manageable rookie-scale contracts. An exception was Anthony Davis‘ trade from the Dallas Mavericks to the Washington Wizards, but the first-rounders in return in that deal largely were locked into the back ends of the round. With Wiggins, who turns 31 on Feb. 23, the concern was a possible move into free agency this summer, and therefore as potentially only a rental due to his player option for 2026-27.
CONTRASTING VIEW: While the Heat idled at the deadline while also remaining idle at play-in level in the playoff race, the Chicago Bulls decided enough was enough. “Being in the middle is what we don’t want to do,” Bulls Vice President Arturas Karnisovas said in a media session following the deadline. “We’ve seen that for the past four years, and we want to change that.” As in the four years, including this, that the Heat also have been in the play-in range. So slate cleared, so Ayo Dosumnu, Coby White, Nikola Vucevic and others out, with the table reset. “The play-in is not our goal,” Karnisovas said. “A championship is. We know where we are in standings, and we are not satisfied with being in the middle as an organization or for our fans. At the same time, we are committed to building the right way without skipping steps. This process takes time, but we’ve already made meaningful shift in how we are approaching roster building and development.”
LIMITED PAYOFF: When Gabe Vincent left the Heat during the 2023 offseason, it was a case of the Heat drawing a line. The Los Angeles Lakers signed Vincent to a three-year deal at $34 million; the Heat were willing to offer that total over four seasons. So now it’s on to the Atlanta Hawks for Vincent, dealt at the deadline by the Lakers along with a second-round pick for Luke Kennard. Vincent will return to free agency in July, a month after turning 30. “His teammates loved him,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said in the wake of the trade. “His coaches loved him. Really just from a professionalism standpoint, embodied everything that was good about this game. I do think the way he finished last season, the way he started preseason, we all felt like he was gonna really have a breakout year for us here.” But, again, injuries got in the way, as they had throughout Vincent’s Lakers tenure. “Unfortunately,” Redick said, “just had a bunch of injuries. He’s a good player and an even better person. I’ve told Gabe this many times, we are grateful we got to work with him, and be around him.”
NUMBER
15. Consecutive years there have been at least four first-time All-Stars in the NBA All-Star Game. This year there are five, including the Heat’s Normal Powell, as well as Detroit’s Jalen Duren, Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren, Atlanta’s Jalen Johnson and Denver’s Jamal Murray.