NBA Trade Rumors: Miami Heat playing the long game for Donovan Mitchell?

NBA Trade Rumors: Should the Miami Heat be willing to play the waiting game for Donovan Mitchell?

The Miami Heat are hanging around near the top of the Eastern Conference standings, hoping that they could eventually make a move at some point either late in the regualr season or during the playoffs (as they did a year ago). However, in ordre to pull that off, they're likely going to need to make a move at the NBA Trade Deadline.

The problem with that is, what the Heat needs most (an efficient and elite score-first guard that would take offensive pressure off of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo) isn't likely to be available at the deadline. If Miami intends on prioritizing that level of talent, they may have to continue to play the waiting game on that front. Perhaps hoping another All-NBA guard becomes available in the next few months.

According to a recent report, the Heat is keeping a close eye on the situation with Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers. They've "long had their eyes on Mitchell" per this report. That leads to the bigger question of whether the Heat should be willing to play the long game for Mitchell, especially considering he's unlikely to be available at this year's NBA Trade Deadline.

Should the Miami be all-in on Donovan Mitchell?

I suppose the ultimate question that the Heat needs to ask themselves is whether they genuinely believe that they can close the deal this time around with Mitchell. They failed on this front previously and as of late, haven't been able to come away with the big star.

The Heat has seemingly come close but consistently falls short of dropping the hammer on a deal. If Miami believes that the end result will be different this time around, perhaps it would be worth the Heat waiting the next few months out. However, there's little evidence to suggest that will be the case.

Sure the Knicks won't be around to blow the Heat's offer out of the water, but the Brooklyn Nets are very much a threat to land Mitchell via trade, and there will likely be other teams in the market for Mitchell. Plus, who's to say that Mitchell decides Cleveland is the best place for him at this point in his career?

It's almost like many around the league are trying to manifest Mitchell demanding a trade of the Cavs shopping him. But that's not the case for now. Maybe something changes between now and the trade deadline or during the offseason, but at least for now the Heat may be hoping for a pipe dream to develop for Mitchell.

Then again, it's hard to blame the Heat considering they nearly pulled off the ultimate pipe dream for Damian Lillard a few months ago. Maybe it works this time around with Mitchell.