Tyler Herro could be available this summer and Dallas has obvious reasons to explore a deal if Miami’s asking price becomes realistic.
Tyler Herro’s time in Miami may be coming to an end. Greg Sylvander, host of the Five on the Floor Miami Heat podcast, reported this spring that he has a strong sense Herro and the Heat are heading for a divorce this summer, with the two sides parting ways one way or another.
Pat Riley has made clear he will not trade Bam Adebayo, which effectively makes Herro the biggest movable asset on the roster. Herro is entering the final year of his contract at $33 million, is extension-eligible for up to four years and $207 million and Miami is unlikely to pay him anywhere near that number. The Heat missed the playoffs for the first time since 2018-19 this season and are chasing a bigger name. Herro’s exit feels like a matter of when, not if.
Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz ranked Dallas fifth on his list of best landing spots and the reasoning is straightforward. The Mavericks ranked 29th in the league in made 3-pointers per game last season and 26th in 3-point accuracy at 34.4%.
Herro is a career 38.2% shooter from deep who averaged 20.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 33 games this season before a foot injury limited his availability. Even in a shortened season, he remained one of the more efficient scorers in the Eastern Conference.
Swartz’s proposed package sends Kyrie Irving to Miami in exchange for Herro, 20-year-old guard Kasparas Jakucionis and the No. 41 overall pick. The timeline argument is the most compelling part of the idea. Irving is 34 years old and returning from a torn ACL. Herro is 26. Jakucionis, Miami’s No. 20 overall pick in 2025, shot 42.3% from 3-point range as a rookie and is exactly the kind of young creator Dallas needs to build around Cooper Flagg for the next decade.
Swapping Irving for a package that brings back two younger guards while solving the team’s 3-point shooting problem is not irrational. The fit makes sense on paper.
The problem is the proposed structure does not work in reality. Miami is unlikely to trade a 26-year-old former All-Star on an expiring $33 million contract for an aging point guard returning from major knee surgery, regardless of how the salary math lines up. The Heat are looking to improve their roster, not simply absorb a veteran who may or may not return as the same player he was before March 2025.
If Dallas is serious about Herro, the conversation likely has to start with the No. 9 pick included in the package and may require an additional future first-round pick on top of that. That is a significant ask for a franchise that does not control its own first-round pick until 2031. Every asset in this draft matters.
Still, the fit Swartz described is real. Herro alongside Flagg would ease the offensive creation burden that has been sitting heavily on a 19-year-old since day one. Jakucionis would give Dallas another young guard who can grow with Flagg over the next several years.
The question is not whether Herro makes basketball sense for the Mavericks. He does. The question is whether Masai Ujiri is willing to pay what Miami will inevitably ask.
