With no draft picks in this week’s NBA draft, the Miami Heat may be tempted to trade into the first round.
The Miami Heat don’t have a pick in June 23rd’s NBA Draft, but Pat Riley and the front office are approaching this draft like they have a pick because, you know, anything can happen.
According to the Miami Herald, if the Heat are able to fall forward into the draft, they’ll be ready to make an educated selection.
"Though Miami has no draft pick on June 23, the Heat has been attending workouts for draft-eligible players and Pat Riley said his staff “is putting together the books just as though we had a lottery pick. We’ll see whether we jump back in the first and the second if we can. We will be very well educated on the players who may not be [drafted].”"
But how would the Heat be able to jump into the draft? Right now, five teams have multiple first round picks. Those teams–who may be looking to flip a spare first rounder for a veteran–would likely be the teams the Heat would target if looking to trade up. They are: the Boston Celtics (3, 16, 23), Denver Nuggets (7, 15, 19), Philadelphia 76ers (1, 24, 26), Suns (4, 13, 28) and Toronto Raptors (9, 27).
The Celtics are most likely to package some picks and players together in an effort to land a super star, and won’t likely deal a first round pick to the rival Heat anyway. That’s out. All of Denver’s picks are in the top 20, and the Heat won’t likely have the ammo to land one of those picks. The 76ers are another team that could package some picks together and if they do look to land a player, it probably will be for much younger players than the Heat are looking to part with. That leaves the Suns at 28 and the Raptors at 27.
Every Heat fan’s dream is to trade Josh McRoberts for a first round pick. That’s probably not going to happen, but McRoberts and, say, Tyler Johnson? Maybe then the Heat could land one of those picks.
read more: Heat should worry about Mavs pursuing Whiteside
But I don’t see that happening because Johnson is as good, if not better, than anyone the Heat could get at the tail end of the first round. Maybe Miami does this in order to move McRoberts’ salary, but parting with the promising Johnson is a steep price to pay.
I wouldn’t put anything past Riley and Andy Elisburg–they have made water into wine before–but trading into the back end of the first round isn’t likely at the top of their priority list.