With LeBron James heading to Philly, Miami must pivot to surround Giannis Antetokounmpo with strong depth. Here are three players the Heat could target via trade.
The Miami Heat's pursuit of LeBron James ended in disappointment as the four-time champion announced he will be joining the Philadelphia 76ers to conclude his iconic career on Friday morning. The 41-year-old prolonged his free agency decision and each day that passed made it more likely he would have to sign a cheap contract wherever he landed. He did just that as ESPN's Shams Charania reported James is signing a two-year deal worth $8 million with a player option for the 2027-28 season.
Despite missing out on James, the Heat are still having a franchise-changing offseason. Just over a month ago, the team made one of the biggest blockbuster deals of the decade by acquiring Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. The team dealt Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kasparas Jakucionis as part of the deal and also lost All-Star Norman Powell to the Chicago Bulls in free agency. Now, the Heat must navigate the rest of this offseason with some financial restrictions as they attempt to build the roster around their shiny new acquisition and Bam Adebayo. Earlier this offseason, the team signed wing Tim Hardaway Jr. to a one-year deal and brought back Simone Fontecchio but there are more moves to be made. They opened up a little bit of money by extending Andrew Wiggins as well, shaving $9 million off his player option for the upcoming season.
The big outgoing piece in potential deals would be forward Nikola Jovic, who signed an extension prior to last season. His cap hit is $16.2 million. Here are three trade candidates the Heat could target with their remaining offseason moves:
1. Moses Moody, Golden State Warriors
Moody, 24, has been a valuable piece of the Warriors rotation for the past couple of seasons but had easily his best season last year, averaging 12.1 points and shooting an impressive 40.1 percent from three-point range. The Warriors are an older team so they may feel an attachment to hold on to Moody at his age but if they can get another young player such as Jovic in return along with potentially a future first-round pick, then it would be hard to turn that down.
2. Reed Sheppard, Houston Rockets
Acquiring a player like Sheppard would be contingent on Miami throwing in a future first-rounder opposite Nikola Jovic. The Rockets have a very crowded backcourt and it seems their priority in terms of player development is focused on other players such as Amen Thompson. Fred VanVleet will be returning to the court this season as well to further clog the minutes and similar to the Moody idea, it could be enticing to add a future pick while still adding a young player with potential such as Jovic. Even though the Heat will have a projected high standing in the Eastern Conference, an unprotected pick is still valuable.
3. Sam Hauser, Boston Celtics
Hauser, 28, burst onto the scene in 2023 as a strong three-point option. Since then, he has been extremely consistent for a perennial contending Celtics team. Hauser is under contract through his age-31 season and the Heat could obviously use a strong three-point shooter for the foreseeable future. Think of him as a younger, more controllable Duncan Robinson in terms of financials.
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