The 2023 offseason has been an incredibly entertaining one already, and we haven’t even had the NBA Draft just yet. The draft truly kicks off player movement madness, but we’ve seen a big move already take place when Bradley Beal was dealt to the Phoenix Suns.
The Miami Heat were in the race for Beal, but their offer ultimately fell short. It was reported that the Heat are prioritizing Damian Lillard, but an anonymous league executive has told Heavy Sports that Miami didn’t trade for Beal due to luxury tax, not Lillard.
“It was out there that Miami decided not to bite on Beal because they were playing for (Portland’s Damian) Lillard. It really wasn’t that; it was tax consequences with Beal that really caused them to back off. The new tax is much more onerous. And I think part of it was that Beal said he wouldn’t give up the no-trade clause in his contract (after the initial deal was complete).”
The penalties of the new CBA regulations go into full effect next season, but teams like the Phoenix Suns will start feeling the burn this summer as they will get hard-capped if they use any of their salary exceptions. This means a roster full of minimums, the same fate that awaited the Heat in a Beal trade.
Are The Heat Going To Run It Back?
Salary concerns are real in the modern NBA, but something tells me that the Heat would much rather be in the tax for a player like Damian Lillard instead of Bradley Beal. They’ll continue trying to make a Lillard deal work out for them until free agency starts in July. But if it’s not a player of Lillard’s caliber, the Heat have very little incentive to trade the likes of Tyler Herro for little.
Pat Riley has already referred to Herro and Bam Adebayo as franchise anchors. The pair are led by Jimmy Butler. This trio has made it to three Conference Finals and two NBA Finals, so there’s no reason for them to abandon it.
They can continue using Kyle Lowry and Duncan Robinson in trades to take their big contracts and turn them into a useful player, but making a splashy trade for the sake of it has never been the Heat way.
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