Is it Kyle Lowry or bust for the Miami Heat this offseason? It might be.
Heading into the offseason, it’s abundantly clear that the Miami Heat needs to upgrade its roster. They need to give Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo another star player to play with and preferably one that could dictate the offense.
At least on paper, Kyle Lowry seems like the ideal addition. And he’s reportedly at the top of Miami’s wishlist this offseason. However, is this a Lowry or bust offseason for the Heat? If Miami fails to land Lowry (who’ll have plenty of teams hot on his trail), is there a viable plan B on the open market?
Non-Kyle Lowry options for the Miami Heat
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Looking at the free-agent landscape that doesn’t include Lowry, it’s tough to see who would be a better fit for the Heat. Assuming Kawhi Leonard isn’t in play, the next slate of free agents that would be defined as “viable” for the Heat are as follows: Chris Paul (but it would be tough to see him not re-sign with Phoenix at this point), Mike Conley (who Utah will likely want to re-sign as well), Lonzo Ball (restricted free agency could be tricky for Miami to navigate), and Dennis Schroder (who has already said he wants to re-sign with the Lakers).
After that, the drop-off in “star” options for the Heat gets slim. And there aren’t many viable options in the trade market, especially considering Miami can’t really move any draft picks at the moment.
Looking at this offseason more and more, it’s looking like it could be Lowry or bust for the Heat. And if Miami misses out on Lowry and other big-name free agents, this team will do everything in its power to simply bring back the same roster as this past season.
Heading into the offseason, Victor Oladipo, Duncan Robinson, Kendrick Nunn, and Goran Dragic will all be free agents. Missing out on Lowry could mean the Heat pivoting to bring everyone back, which I’m not sure is the best course of action in that scenario.
But when the Heat’s front office has been against the wall, we’ve seen them time and time again (especially recently) try to “retain assets.” In the not-so-recent past, it’s proven to be a mistake for this team – we saw it with Hassan Whiteside, James Johnson, and Dion Waiters recently.
Miami needs to put the full-court press on Lowry. He’s the best option on the open market and might be the only thing that perhaps will save the Heat from overpaying in an attempt to retain their current assets on the roster.