It seems like the partnership between Kyle Lowry and the Miami Heat could be heading toward a sad end, as there reportedly has been some tension between the two sides recently.
As recently reported by @flasportsbuzz, The Heat have been open to moving Kyle Lowry. There was a lot of tension between the two over the past week or so, & I do believe a move will come, at the latest, by the summer.
— Adam Borai (@AdamNBorai) February 6, 2023
According to a report from late January, the Heat had been receiving calls from teams across the league about Lowry’s trade status.
They are now open to trading the 36-year-old in a deal they think benefits them, according to Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald.
“The Heat initially had no interest in dealing Lowry,” Jackson and Chiang wrote. “But the team’s position has softened recently, and Miami is now open to trades involving Lowry if the team is offered a deal it views as advantageous, according to a source in contact with the team.”
Not many would’ve predicted the relationship between Miami and Lowry getting to this point after the franchise acquired him in a sign-and-trade deal in the summer of 2021. The six-time All-Star had been linked to the Heat for years, and it was believed that a true point guard would put them over the top once again.
While he had a solid first regular season with the team by averaging 13.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game on 44.0 percent shooting from the field and 37.7 percent shooting from 3-point range, he had a rough time in the 2022 NBA Playoffs.
In 10 playoff games, he didn’t look fully healthy and struggled on his way to averaging 7.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.7 assists per contest on 29.1 percent shooting overall and 24.1 percent shooting from deep.
Things haven’t gotten that much better this season, as he’s registering averages of 12.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists per contest while knocking down just 39.6 percent of his shots.
Something interest to note is that Lowry hasn’t played in the fourth quarters of some Heat games recently.
While there is interest in Lowry from teams like the Los Angeles Clippers, it’s unclear whether or not a deal will get done. The one-time champion recently gave a concerning update about his knee. A player who is injured obviously loses a bit of trade value, even more so when he is on the wrong side of 30.
For now, all Lowry and Heat fans can do is wait and see what Pat Riley and the rest of Miami’s front office do before the Feb. 9 trade deadline comes and goes.
