The Miami Heat surveyed the trade market but weren’t interested in the potential deals available to them at the deadline, according to the Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang.
Miami made a minor move by trading center Dewayne Dedmon to the San Antonio Spurs to open up a roster spot. The move allows Miami to bring in some players in the buyout market.
The Heat didn’t move off of Kyle Lowry or Duncan Robinson, as they likely would have needed to include “sweetener” to move off of those contracts.
“And Lowry and Duncan Robinson are two injured players on expensive contracts who were going to be difficult to unload in a trade without some type of sweetener,” Chiang wrote.
“Dedmon’s contract could have been combined with a few of the the Heat’s low-level salary players to trade for a midlevel salary player. So why did the Heat attach a second-round pick to Dedmon to send him to the Spurs on Tuesday — two days before the deadline — and eliminate that option?
“According to a league source, the Heat surveyed the market and knew what those type of deals would look like and weren’t interested.”
It makes sense that Miami decided to stand pat at the deadline, as the team has been playing much better as of late with Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro and others getting healthy. With Lowry out of the lineup due to a knee injury, the Heat could look to add a guard in the buyout market.
John Wall, Russell Westbrook, Reggie Jackson and Patrick Beverley could all be available if they are bought out by the teams that traded for them.
The Heat have shown that they can make a deep playoff run with this core, going to the Eastern Conference Finals last season and the NBA Finals in the 2019-20 campaign.
Even though other teams around the league made upgrades, the Heat benefitted from the Brooklyn Nets trading Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant ahead of the deadline. Miami is currently in the No. 6 spot in the Eastern Conference, three games behind the No. 5 seed Nets.
It seems like Miami didn’t think it could find a significant upgrade with Dedmon’s salary or by moving Lowry or Robinson, so it makes sense why the team didn’t sacrifice many future assets.
Lowry has started every game he’s played in for Miami this season, and he is a valuable veteran to have on the roster for the stretch run. While Robinson has been in and out of the rotation since the end of last season, he is a streaky shooter that could fill in if Max Strus or Tyler Herro goes down with an injury (once Robinson himself is healthy).
It seems like Pat Riley and the Heat believe in their current core after making it to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals last season. The Heat will look to improve their standing in the Eastern Conference over the final stretch of this season to make another deep playoff run.
