NBA Trade Rumors: Exploring three Joel Embiid trade ideas that the Miami Heat should be willing to consider over any Damian Lillard deal.
For the majority of the NBA offseason, the Miami Heat has been operating under the belief that there’s a good chance they’re going to be able to acquire Damian Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers. After he demanded a trade to the Miami Heat, that much became clear. When and how that actually comes to fruition remains to be seen.
And with the recent rumblings that Joel Embiid could potentially be delaying Miami’s pursuit for Lillard, that got me thinking – are there potential avenues toward an Embiid trad that the Heat should pursue over Lillard? If there are, I decided it was only fair to explore what those possibilities could look like.
Could the Miami Heat win a bidding war for Joel Embiid?
One of the first questions that the Heat would have to answer is whether they could seemingly win an all-out bidding war over the likes of the New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets, and other teams will premier assets. The answer to that question may be difficult to answer considering we may not even know what the baseline asking price would be in the event that the Philadelphia 76ers get to a point where they’re ready to trade Embiid, but there’s one upper hand that the Heat may have in any potential bidding war – Bam Adebayo.
If the Heat is willing to include Bam in a potential deal for Embiid, it opens up so many more possibilities. Assuming that would be so, we explore three potential Embiid trade ideas that Miami may want to consider over any deal for Damian Lillard.
A new Miami Heat big 3 with Joel Embiid
In this first package, the Miami Heat would be creating a new big three centered around Jimmy Butler, Joel Embiid, and Tyler Herro. The big question is whether that big 3 would be better or even rival what the Heat could potentially have hypothetically with Damian Lillard, Jimmy, and Bam Adebayo. It’s close and this would certainly be the Heat betting on Embiid’s long-term ability to remain healthy.
Embiid is nearly four years younger than Lillard and this move would theoretically leave the Heat’s championship window a bit more than a big move for Lillard would. But this big 3 largely hinges on Herro taking another step into stardom. There’s no guarantee that happens.
Nevertheless, in this deal, the Heat would send Bam, Duncan Robinson (as a salary filler), Jaime Jaquez Jr., two future first-round picks, a second-round pick, and pick swaps to the Sixers for Embiid and De’Anthony Melton.
In this deal, Miami would be able to attain one of their young prospects (Nikola Jovic) and still create a core that would be able to compete in the Eastern Conference for the foreseeable future. The big question is whether this team would be good enough to win a title this season. That’s far from certain, and that’s why this is not an ideal trade idea.
Miami Heat acquire both James Harden and Joel Embiid
In this second deal, the Miami Heat decided to go all-in and make a move for not only Joel Embiid but also James Harden. Miami decides that they’d be open to taking the gamble on one or two seasons and all but eliminates any potential long-term flexibility for the franchise. In an attempt to win a championship in the next 1-3 years, this is the type of deal that could end up being costly in the long run for the Heat.
In this deal, the Heat would be doing the Sixers the favor of taking their Harden problem off their hands while also absorbing P.J. Tucker’s contract in the process. Philadelphia would be getting a really good young offensive talent in Tyler Herro, in addition to another young player in Jaime Jaquez Jr., and draft compensation. Kyle Lowry would be thrown in as a salary filler and would help the Sixers clear more cap space moving forward.
Miami would be pivoting to a big 3 of Harden, Jimmy Butler, and Embiid. The Heat would also have a really strong supporting cast with Josh Richardson, Caleb Martin, Duncan Robinson, Nikola Jovic, Thomas Bryant, and Kevin Love still on the roster.
That said, there’s no guarantee that Miami would want to take on both Harden and Embiid moving forward.
A huge 3-team trade to completely revamp roster Miami Heat’s roster
If the Miami Heat really wanted to get creative, they could add a third team here in an attempt to completely revamp their roster heading into the start of the 2023-24 NBA season. There are essentially two parts to this deal for the Heat. Let’s begin with the first part which involves getting Joel Embiid from the Sixers. That’s pretty simple. In this deal, Miami gets Embiid and De’Anthony Melton from Philly.
Miami would also get Collin Sexton (to be the team’s starting point guard), Kelly Olynyk (to help at the power forward position next to Embiid), and a future first-round pick (via Cleveland) from the Utah Jazz to help allow the Heat to send another pick to Philly.
In all, the Sixers would get Bam Adebayo, Duncan Robinson, three future first-round picks, a second-round pick, and pick swaps from the Heat. The Jazz would get Tyler Herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
This complete trade would leave the Heat with a core of Sexton, Jimmy Butler, and Embiid with the supporting cast of Olynyk, Melton, Josh Richardson, Nikola Jovic, Caleb Martin, Thomas Bryant, and Kevin Love. At the very least, it’s an intriguing idea that Miami could consider if they decided to pivot away from Lillard to Embiid-centric trades.