Miami Heat: Are these Wayne Ellington’s final games in a Heat jersey?

The Miami Heat may be looking to trade their 3-point sniper Wayne Ellington sometime soon. As the trade deadline is in sight, this Heat team may be ready to make some depth-clearing deals.

The Miami Heat’s Wayne Ellington may find himself a new home by the NBA’s trade deadline of February 7th, as he hasn’t gotten much of a workload from head coach Erik Spoelstra due to the Heat’s roster logjam, as our own Wes Goldberg illustrates here.

And while moving frustrated players that are less professional like Dion Waiters or Hassan Whiteside may be the better idea for this franchise moving forward, Ellington has made himself one of the more attractive assets the Heat possess. Even with Ellington not getting much playing time over the past few weeks, “the man with the golden arm” still had a career year last season and has cemented himself as one of the leagues greatest shooters from the arc.

2017-18 stats (77 games in 26.3 MPG): 11.2 PPG – shooting splits 40.7/39.2/85.9

2018-19 stats: (20 games in 22.7 MPG): 8.3 PPG – shooting splits 35.8/36.5/84.6

Those ’17-’18 numbers are the best of Ellington’s career and he believes that he is in his prime right now, and apparently so does his agent Mark Bartelstein, per David Furones of the Sun Sentinel:

"Ellington confirmed on Thursday that his agent, Mark Bartelstein, has reached out to the Heat over the matter and that he was aware of the conversations.“I feel like I need to be on the court right now playing instead of just watching as the season goes by, quickly,” Ellington said.He said he understands the difficult position Spoelstra is in, having to find time for 13 rotation-caliber players but doesn’t exactly enjoy being left out of the mix.“It’s a tough job. It’s a tough situation,” Ellington said. “It just sucks to be the odd man out. It’s a position that I don’t want to be in, that I can’t be in being in my prime, coming off a pretty good season and still having a lot to contribute. I feel I have a lot that I can help with.”"

It is true, having 13 qualified role players that deserve similar minutes is a difficult task for a coach that desperately needs wins right now as the Heat try and stay afloat in the playoff race. However, the Heat have lacked in the offensive production arena all season long, keeping themselves in the playoff hunt by playing immaculate zone defense, paired a gritty intensity.

Wayne Ellington could be the answer to their offensive woes, but for right now, he may just be the biggest trade piece the Heat possess and that is all. It is hard to figure out the best way out of this unfortunate situation, on one hand you have a professional who does his job in Ellington, and on the other hand you have an asset may leave your franchise for nothing by summer time.

In conclusion, the writing is on the wall for Ellington, as he will most likely be moved by the trade deadline and Miami will look for a cap filler and some draft picks. Unless, of course, the Dion Waiters drama gets worse and Ellington is used as a piece to pry Waiters off this roster.

Time will tell as Miami will face off against the Detroit Pistons tonight at 7 PM Eastern (Tyler Johnson is out and that should create some minutes for Ellington and/or Waiters).