Miami Heat
Over the past couple of decades, the Miami Heat has been one of the best-run and most respected franchises in the NBA. However, over the last couple of seasons, some of that sentiment has begun to change. It may have all come to a punctuation with the situation that the Heat is trying to get itself out of with Jimmy Butler. But even all that aside, the Heat doesn't have much flexibility to retool the roster even if Jimmy would open up a ton of cap space. Free agency in the NBA isn't what it is anymore and it's transformed into trading for star players a year or two before they hit the market.
The most effective way to do so includes acquiring them with the capital of the league now - future draft picks. Unfortunately for the Heat, they don't have a ton of those. That's why it may be smart for the Heat to attempt to trade for some of their future first-round picks back before this year's NBA Trade Deadline so they could put themselves in the best position to retool quickly once this Jimmy saga ends.
Why the Heat should consider a trade with the future in mind: Even though the Heat has been a franchise that has notoriously overlooked the value of draft picks, it's pretty clear that team building in the NBA has changed over the last decade or so. It's time for the Heat to catch up. It is odd that for a team that has been so good at drafting, they would continue to devalue the ability to have a high pick in the NBA Draft. I imagine that will begin to change at some point soon.
But in order for the Heat to fully take advantage of that, they're probably going to need to trade for some of their future picks back. Considering the picks that the Heat has already traded over the last few years, this team could be in a very bad spot over the next few years if they don't end up righting some of their wrongs. Already, as is, Miami owes two of their next three first-round draft picks because of prior deals. Considering this team is fading in the wrong direction, getting back at least one of those picks could go a long way in helping get this team back on track when they begin to retool the roster.