NBA Trade Rumors: 3 reasons why the Miami Heat should be all-in on James Harden

Giannis is far from a sure thing

In some ways, many believe that the Miami Heat have two courses of action. They could either wait and hope that Giannis enters free agency next summer (that means him not signing the max extension over the next week) and that he’ll accept a meeting with Pat Riley and the Heat.

Those are already two unknowns and non-guarantees. Then, the Heat has to believe that they could persuade Giannis to leave the Milwaukee Bucks and deny any other team’s recruitment pitches to sign with the Heat. That’s another huge non-guarantee that the Heat would have to be confident in.

Compare that to simply putting together an offer that Houston would like to get a sure thing (right now, for this season) in James Harden, and it’s pretty simple. You always want the sure thing in sports.

Miami may have gambled big-time when it landed LeBron James and Chris Bosh, in addition to re-signing Dwyane Wade, in 2010. But that’s completely different. Relationships were there and cultivated. I’m not so sure that is the place with Gianni right now. And maybe it is. Maybe the Heat knows more than they’re giving off.

In the end, though, if there’s really only a 5-10 percent chance that the Heat will be able to turn Giannis, the decision is simple. Go get the sure thing and try to win a title this year with James Harden.