At this point in the offseason, Kevin Durant remains the top priority for Pat Riley and his Miami Heat. As one of the best players on the planet, Durant has the power to bring a title to South Beach if he’s paired with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.
With talks still ongoing, Pat Riley also has a backup plan that he could follow if the Durant pursuit goes sideways.
According to The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor, Donovan Mitchell is on Miami’s radar as a potential target if they don’t acquire Durant.
“Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune reported Tuesday that the Heat have made offers for Mitchell, but none have met Utah’s demands for at least one great young player and a war chest of draft picks. The Heat remain in pursuit of Durant, but Mitchell is considered a fallback option if the Heat are unable to land him.”
For now, the Heat are staying focused on KD, but any trade involving the 2x Finals MVP is going to be complicated. As an elite player in his prime, the Nets are going to demand an insane haul of assets in return for his services.
The Heat will have trouble meeting those demands, which is why they could eventually pivot towards Mitchell.
“Getting Durant to Miami would be complicated, though. The Nets would likely want Bam Adebayo. But they already have Ben Simmons, and NBA rules prevent a team from trading for more than one player who has signed a designated rookie max extension. That’s the deal Simmons inked with Philadelphia and Adebayo did with Miami, so at least a third team would likely be required in a KD-to-Miami scenario, with that team taking Simmons. That assumes Miami would even give up Adebayo, a 24-year-old Defensive Player of the Year candidate, for the 33-year-old Durant. It’s possible a deal just isn’t there, and the Heat could instead turn their attention to Mitchell.”
As a young and explosive scoring guard, Donovan Mitchell is a player that can drastically raise the ceiling of whatever team he’s on.
While he is no Durant, the Nets would benefit greatly from his game and could make out as winners in all of this, despite the team’s top two stars being on the trade block.
This will be an interesting summer, to say the least, and it will be a wild ride until the end.
