NBA Trade Rumors: After a colossal failure of an offseason, the Miami Heat are bound to give up on their quest to land another superstar. Who will be the next target?
It wasn’t a banner offseason for the Miami Heat. After making their second NBA Finals in four years, the Heat was hoping to land a potential final piece to their championship puzzle this summer. Even with two good chances, in which both Bradley Beal and Damian Lillard demanded a trade, Miami ended up with neither of the All-Star guards. Naturally, it’s left a bad taste in the mouth for the Heat heading into the start of the 2023-24 NBA season.
But even after the bad experience that was this past offseason, it would be surprising if the Heat changed courses on their star-chasing philosophy. It’s the reason they won two championships with LeBron James and Chris Bosh and part of the reason why they’ve made two NBA Finals in the last four years with Jimmy Butler.
The Heat pursues whales and while they’re not batting 100, they’ve had enough success where they’re not going to entirely pivot away from that level of operating.
After missing out on Lillard and Beal, who’s next?
The Miami Heat’s shrinking championship window
Because of the Heat’s shrinking championship window, they don’t have much time to figure out who the next possible target can be. If they want to win in Jimmy’s championship window, the Heat must make a significant move for a superstar in the next calendar year.
The question is, who will their next target be? Let’s explore a few possibilities.
Potential superstar targets for the Miami Heat
Looking at the landscape of the NBA, there could be several targets that could arise for the Miami Heat over the next calendar year. Let’s start with the superstars or star players who are upcoming free agents who could be seemingly traded before the deadline.
On this list, you have Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, Klay Thompson, DeMar DeRozan, and James Harden. Out of those players, there are two that make the most sense and are the most realistic – Siakam and Harden. DeRozan could make sense but doesn’t really fit next to Jimmy. The spacing would be terrible. Anunoby would be too costly for a player who may not have a high-level ceiling, and Thompson isn’t getting traded.
Then you have to question whether the Raptors or Sixers would want to trade arguably the best player on their roster to one of their rivals. Nevertheless, we’ll keep those two names in mind.
After that, there are a few stars that could seemingly demand a trade in the next calendar year. Those players are Joel Embiid, Donovan Mitchell, Zach LaVine, Trae Young, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Zion Williamson.
From that list, the two players that will likely echo the most with Heat fans and the front office are Embiid and Mitchell. LaVine may not have superstar potential and may not be the best fit with Jimmy. The same could be said about KAT. Could Zion and Bam work together? Eh. Young is an interesting dark horse, actually.
Out of all these possibilities, at least in my mind, there’s one that makes the most sense for the Heat.
The superstar the Miami Heat should go all-in for next
If the Miami Heat is going to be patient throughout the process of finding their next superstar to target, there’s one that makes sense above all else.
Let’s explore why it isn’t some of the logical candidates first. It’s not Joel Embiid. The Heat would have to trade Bam Adebayo and that doesn’t make sense. For as much as James Harden would make sense, deep down I don’t think Miami wants to have anything to do with that headache. Siakam is a player to keep an eye on but he isn’t the perfect fit for how this roster is constructed .
Young is a talented offensive player but doesn’t give off Heat player. Would he buy into Heat culture? I’m not so sure.
The one superstar that makes the most sense for the Heat is Donovan Mitchell. He’s a player the Heat was interested in when he was traded last offseason and has a relationship with Bam Adebayo.
But here’s the reason why it makes the most sense: he would help the Jimmy championship window and would also fit the timeline of the Bam championship window. He gives the Heat the best of both worlds.
A scenario where the Miami Heat lands Donovan Mitchell
As far-fetched as it may seem, there’s actually a very realistic pathway toward the Miami Heat getting in on the Donovan Mitchell sweepstakes, if there is one. With just two years remaining on his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers, a big decision must be made by both sides after this season. And if this season doesn’t pan out how Mitchell and the Cavs expect it to, with the team taking a big step forward in their development, the whispers surrounding Mitchell’s possible exit are only going to grow louder.
If the Cavs flop this season, there’s a scenario where Mitchell asks the Cavs if they’d like to trade him before entering his lame-duck season with the team. He declined to sign an extension this past season with the Cavs and I highly doubt anything will change on that front next summer.
This time around, entering the final year of his deal, Mitchell will have the chance to handpick where he wants to get traded. Last time around, he didn’t have much say due to his contract. If he were to demand a trade after this season, he could say he’s only re-signing with one team to guide the Cavs toward a trade to one specific team.
Of course, the Heat would need Mitchell to tell the Cavs he wants to be in Miami. Similar to what Lillard did to the Blazers. The only difference is that Mitchell would have so much more influence due to his expiring contract.
If the Miami Heat is going to go all-in on one superstar next, it should be Donovan Mitchell. There’s no doubt about that.