Miami Heat trade rumors: Is a Luol Deng for Joakim Noah swap possible?
By Wes Goldberg
Could Luol Deng returning to the Chicago Bulls and Joakim Noah landing with the Miami Heat work?
With the NBA trade deadline approaching, rumors about middling teams hoping to make a move to take a leap are in full swirl. At times, both the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat have looked dominant this season. Other times… not so much.
ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle pondered about some trade ideas that could help the Bulls. Among them was a nifty swap to bring Luol Deng back to Chicago.
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"In Deng, the Bulls would be targeting one of the most respected players in recent team history. Deng has an expiring deal with Miami, so the Bulls would be straddling the fence between winning now and retaining flexibility for the summer. They could move Joakim Noah and Snell to Miami for Deng and Chris Andersen, whose contract is also expiring."
It’s an interesting idea, but probably not something the Heat would be willing to do. For one, Noah’s season is, more likely than not, over after having shoulder surgery this month. He would have no impact on the Heat this season and that won’t fly as Miami makes a push for the Eastern Conference playoffs.
At the same time, they would be dealing away a key rotation piece. While Deng hasn’t been stellar this season by any stretch, he’s been solid as a stop gap until Justise Winslow is able to take the reigns as the starting small forward. He also gives Miami flexibility in small ball lineups.
What this amounts to is basically a swap of Deng for Tony Snell. While I like Snell–he’s a talented young wing with 3-and-D potential–he’s not nearly ready to play major minutes for a contender.
The only reason the Heat would do this is if they believe that Noah can bounce back from shoulder surgery and become a key piece in Miami next season. By making the trade, the Heat would retain Noah’s Bird Rights and could therefore offer him more years and money than any other team. But Noah won’t get max money, and he probably won’t play another five years. So even this reason is rather moot.
If Pat Riley and co. are targeting Noah at a potential bargain this summer, bringing him to Miami early and trying to get him to warm up to the Heat (Noah and the Heat have had their battles in the past) could be advantageous, but not at the cost of parting with Deng.
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Overall, this deal doesn’t pack enough punch for the Heat to pull the trigger. Throw in Sacramento’s top-10 protected 2016 first round pick and swap Nikola Mirotic for Josh McRoberts and maybe it’s something the Heat would consider. But, for now, I’m selling.