The Miami Heat’s dream for an NBA Championship just went up in flames as they lost Game 7 at home in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Boston Celtics. Losing to the Celtics can’t be easy for this Heat franchise that has had a bitter rivalry with them in the past and beat them in 2020 when they met in the ECF.
- Russell Westbrook Embraces Heat Culture And Finds Reinvigorated Form
- Lakers Receive Much-Needed Depth In Key Areas
- A Necessary Change To Liven Up Both Teams Ahead Of The 2022-23 Season
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The Heat looked stagnant in the Playoffs, being limited by their personnel in ways they hadn’t seen before. With players like Tyler Herro out of the squad and Kyle Lowry dealing with an injury, it was clear that the Heat needed guards who can create scoring opportunities for themselves and for others while being available on a consistent basis.
That is a commodity rare in the modern NBA, but if the Heat need to mix it up to return to championship contention, their answer might be sitting in sunny Los Angeles waiting to accept a player option worth $47 million.
Los Angeles Lakers receive: Kyle Lowry, Max Strus, Duncan Robinson
Miami Heat receive: Russell Westbrook, Talen Horton-Tucker
The issue with most trades regarding Russell Westbrook is how other teams make up the money to make a trade work under the financial trade rules. Thankfully, Miami has been handing out long-term contracts to keep their core together through the last couple of seasons. Both teams are strapped for cash under the salary cap, so this is one of the ways they can go about making changes to their rosters.
The Heat take on the expiring contract of Westbrook, along with a chance on 22-year-old youngster Talen Horton-Tucker while offloading some bad long-term contracts in Kyle Lowry and Duncan Robinson. Considering how the deals for Lowry and Robinson run for more seasons, it handicaps the Lakers in the long-term, but it is better to acquire depth like this rather than fill roster spots with minimum players.
The Heat will need to add another player to make the salary match, but both teams have incomplete rosters at the moment with expiring contracts. The 2020 Finals opponents may be the perfect trade partners given the situations they both are in. Considering the fact that Westbrook will expire as compared to the Lakers taking Lowry and Robinson’s longer contracts under their name means the Lakers could negotiate the Heat out of demanding a first-round pick.
Russell Westbrook Embraces Heat Culture And Finds Reinvigorated Form
If there is any place where Russell Westbrook can thrive once again, it is in Miami. His mentality and ethos of working is shared by everyone in the organization and will be appreciated more. In addition, the Heat have one of the best modern coaches in the league Erik Spoelstra, who can definitely figure out rotations with Westbrook.
The Heat can add shooters in the off-season at the fraction of the cost associated with Duncan Robinson, who was out of the rotation for Miami through most of the playoffs. Kyle Lowry’s questions around durability and his complete ineffectiveness in the series against Boston have people questioning his fit on this Heat roster. Westbrook’s shot may have regressed, but he is still an elite playmaker that someone like Jimmy Butler could play off.
Even if the Westbrook experiment fails, the Heat can take his contract off the books next season and have more room to build their roster rather than be hamstrung by Lowry and Robinson’s contract that lasts till 2024 and 2026 respectively. This might be the shake-up Miami Heat needs and maybe a solution to their point guard woes.
In addition, the Heat will also receive Talen Horton-Tucker, who has shown flashes of his ceiling in LA, the excellent Miami developmental staff will extract that potential out of him. The Lakers paid him last season with the hopes he takes a leap into being a more dependable co-star behind LeBron and Anthony Davis. However, THT barely held on to a rotation spot, and that too because the Lakers didn’t have the strong depth to fill in for him. There is still a lot he can do on the court, but it doesn’t look like he can thrive into becoming the player many pegged him to be with the pressures in LA. Miami is known to extract the maximum from players on their roster, so it may be perfect for the player and the team to get a 6’4 guard like THT who has a nearly 7-foot wingspan, making him an ideal option on the wing as well.
Lakers Receive Much-Needed Depth In Key Areas
While there is a lot of fantasizing in La La Land about what the Lakers can add this off-season to return to contention next season. Regrettably, there isn’t a lot of flexibility in this team with the assets that they have, unless they trade Anthony Davis away for a new nucleus that a 38-year-old LeBron James will be tasked to carry next season. With the things that the Lakers have been looking for, this possible trade with the Miami Heat gives them everything they need.
The Lakers get to keep their picks for themselves and can find a suitable home for Westbrook for the final season on his massive contract. Meanwhile, they take on the last two years of Kyle Lowry’s contract and pay him the new $30 million that he is owed. The Robinson contract isn’t looking favorable, but for the time LeBron is on this team, a shooter like Robinson will always find the court in some way or the other. The Lakers were relying on Carmelo Anthony to stretch the floor, so even if Duncan is inconsistent, he will be the best option the Lakers will have for shooting on the entire roster (by far). Max Strus is a very solid wing player that can stretch the floor and defend. He is due to be paid soon, and considering the financial situation of both teams, that extension can only be given by these teams if he truly earns that money.
Kyle Lowry is not the All-Star caliber point guard he was just a few seasons ago, but the expectation from him will reduce in LA. Everyone knows that LeBron James is the primary facilitator on the Lakers, so there is no reason for that to change, especially as LeBron continues to age. His IQ and ability to create shots for others are incredibly valuable. However, his movement off-ball scrambles defensive rotation regularly, so if Lowry can use his vision to spot the perfect moments for him to have an impact on the game, he will be extremely valuable. The issue with Westbrook alongside LeBron for many was Westbrook’s IQ and movement when he didn’t have the ball. Lowry is perfectly fine playing off the ball and will provide some pivotal guard defense on the Lakers.
Lowry will also have a more dynamic lob threat in Anthony Davis alongside him. With the addition of him alongside Robinson and Strus, the Lakers plug three fundamental holes. They acquire a point guard that can fit alongside LeBron, one of the best catch-and-shoot players in the league, and a dependable 3-and-D wing.
A Necessary Change To Liven Up Both Teams Ahead Of The 2022-23 Season
Both the Lakers and the Heat need to freshen up their rosters. The Lakers were a dismal 33-49 this season, depending on LeBron James to not only be their leading scorer and be second on both the rebounding and assists list. He also was their best three-point shooter, which is a problem considering LeBron is an average to an above-average shooter at best. He shot 35.9% from three last season. Duncan Robinson was a 37.3% shooter, a drop-off from years prior, but would still make him the best shooter on the Lakers.
Even Max Strus and Kyle Lowry shot better from three in the regular season than LeBron did, so these additions ideally should help the Lakers’ floor-spacing. They added a bunch of 40% shooters on minimums last season and it didn’t work, maybe it can work better with players that have more than just one dimension in Strus and Lowry.
The Heat have spacing issues themselves, but these three players compounded that issue in the playoffs. With an aging Butler, the Heat needs to reposition their roster as quickly as possible. Taking on the expiring contract of Russell Westbrook and allowing him to run the offense rather than having him be a spot-up shooter will help both teams. Westbrook is still an elite playmaker and Lowry just wasn’t effective in creating for others as much as Miami would have expected in the Playoffs. Horton-Tucker gives them a young wing to mitigate the loss of Max Strus, and perhaps a player with a higher ceiling which could benefit Miami over the course of Butler’s contract that will end in 2026. THT also better aligns with the timeline of younger players like Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo.
In totality, both teams are better positioning themselves for next season. There are massive question marks on all the players involved in this deal, considering the poor production memories that are fresh for all of them. However, they can be in better situations that would utilize them to be bigger factors. That is exactly what these teams can do for these players and each other, as they look to stay competitive with the best in the league.
