If the Miami Heat are going to make a big splash this summer, it's becoming painfully obvious who they're going to target.
If the Miami Heat aren't interested in a rebuild, which all indications seem to suggest they're not, there are very few moves that they'll be able to make to successfully reshuffle their roster. However, in his end-of-the-year press conference, Heat president Pat Riley seemed confident he'd be able to find a way to make a move to improve the roster. Looking at the landscape across the league, all roads probably lead to Kevin Durant.
Even if the Heat attempt to get in on the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, there's probably not a reality in which they win a bidding war and acquire him via trade. If the Heat wants to "remain" in contention with this core, the only realistic path toward significantly upgrading the roster revolves around a pursuit of KD. And even then, I'm not sure how much of a big-picture difference he'd make for the team. But I guess that's another conversation for another day.
A dwindling market for Kevin Durant could make the Heat the favorites
With the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs probably shifting their attention away from KD and to Giannis Antetokounmpo, that leaves a potential thin trade market for KD. Of the teams that realistically could make a move for KD, or of the teams that actually make sense for him, that leaves the Minnesota Timberwolves, maybe the New York Knicks, maybe the Memphis Grizzlies, and the Heat.
Of those teams, Miami is going to be in one of the best positions to pull off a trade. They have up to three first-round picks available for them to trade and a couple of young pieces on their roster that could be of interest to the Suns.
Even then, KD will have to have some sort of interest in the Heat. I can't imagine the Suns are going to trade him to a place he doesn't want to be. But if those stars do align for the Heat, trading for KD does seem like the most realistic path toward upgrading the roster from a talent perspective.
The big question the Heat's front office has to ask themselves is whether trading two first-round picks is worth the addition of KD at this point in his career. There was a time when trading KD for two first-round picks was a foregone conclusion. However, I'm not sure if that is still the case.
That's what the Heat has the answer. Can a core of Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo, and KD carry this franchise back into contention in the Eastern Conference? The path for Miami to pull off such a move is pretty clear. It's there and available to them, especially as the rest of the league waits on Giannis.
At the same time, I'm not sure it's a no-brainer that the path Miami should take. The offseason could prove to be an exciting one in the NBA. Miami could find itself at the center of it all once again. If there's one thing you can bet on, it's the fact that if the Heat does make a bold move this offseason, it will almost certainly be for KD.