The Miami Heat haven’t had a very good offseason. They lost P. J. Tucker in free agency to conference rivals in the Philadelphia 76ers and haven’t made any moves to improve their roster from the 2021-22 season. They have done so in the hopes of acquiring Kevin Durant, working all summer on a trade that won’t materialize after the Nets announced that KD will be returning.
However, another All-Star on the trade market is Donovan Mitchell in Utah. The Jazz have already traded Rudy Gobert and have been in talks with the New York Knicks to send Mitchell to his hometown of New York. The Heat can step into those talks and try to get Donovan in South Beach to pair him with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.
Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel revealed that the Heat is going to pursue Donovan Mitchell using Tyler Herro and more assets in lieu of KD being off the table. However, he also revealed that a possible KD trade shouldn’t be ruled out.
The Miami Heat could now shift their focus to Donovan Mitchell, per the Sun Sentinel’s Ira Winderman
“if there was any hesitancy about including an asset for Mitchell, that now could change.” pic.twitter.com/jHpiwjTL5s
— Heat Nation (@HeatNationCom) August 24, 2022
“First, I’m still not sold that the Kevin Durant issue is settled. Yes, perhaps for the moment, but the Nets’ first five regular-season games are against the Pelicans, Raptors, Grizzlies, Bucks, Mavericks. Let’s first see how adversity is handled, if Kyrie Irving remains mercurial, and if Ben Simmons gets to and stays on the court. The Nets’ statement was mere words. Let’s wait on the actions, considering just three weeks ago Durant wanted Steve Nash and Sean Marks gone. But, yes, if there was any hesitancy about including an asset for Mitchell, that now could change. Still, I’m not sold on Tyler Herro plus additional sweeteners for Donovan Mitchell. That still feels somewhat excessive.” (h/t Sun Sentinel)
The Lakers made a move for Patrick Beverley and opened the post-KD trade market. Teams need to move fast to pick up the best available players as teams will scramble to ensure their rosters are ready for training camp.
The Heat have to replace Tucker still and they need frontcourt stabilization. Instead, they are trying to swap out a guard for a guard in Herro and Mitchell. Options like Bojan Bogdanovic are also available on the market, so it’s going to be a delicate line that Miami needs to balance. If they wait too long to make a Mitchell trade happen, they may have to pick out scraps to fill their roster out for next season.
