Why the Miami Heat didn’t make a move at the NBA trade deadline

The Miami Heat didn’t make any moves at the NBA trade deadline. Why not, and how does this impact how the Heat go about rebuilding?

Outside of South Beach, it was a busy trade deadline, but not for the Miami Heat. Take a look at the NBA’s transactions the last few days and you’ll notice why: Every trade included at least one draft pick.

(Except for this little ditty that snuck in before the deadline.)

The Heat don’t have any picks they could trade until the year 2022. A draft pick for five years from now isn’t going to move the needle in any trade. The Heat have a 2017 first round pick, but cannot trade it due to league rules because they traded last season’s pick. They could agree to a pick swap, but that’s not worth much after the Heat’s recent 13-game win streak has them out of the draft’s top 10.

So even if the Heat wanted to make a move, they couldn’t. Draft picks were the NBA’s preferred tool to grease the trade wheels, so Miami couldn’t participate. Reports indicated that the Heat were trying to package Wayne Ellington and Josh McRoberts, but it didn’t make sense for a team to take those contracts on–totaling nearly $11 million–without also getting a pick.

Earlier in the season, trading Goran Dragic or Hassan Whiteside looked like a possibility, but Pat Riley and the Heat are more likely to push for the playoffs than the reset button. Parting with one of them now would submarine that effort.

The only other assets the Heat had were James Johnson and Dion Waiters. Reporters before the deadline speculated that a team hoping to add a role player for a playoff push could make Rilesburg an offer, but that never materialized. Both are virtually on expiring contracts (Waiters will surely opt out of his deal this summer) and teams may have been hesitant to give up future assets for players who could leave in free agency.

Miami’s other assets — Justise Winslow, Josh Richardson and Tyler Johnson — weren’t going to move for a few reasons. Winslow is out for the season after shoulder surgery, Richardson’s contract is so small it’s barely tradable, and Johnson has to approve any deal he’s involved in this season.

There were players available the Heat may have wanted. Denver’s Wilson Chandler and/or Danilo Gallinari were floated out there, but the Nuggets reportedly wanted a first-round pick in the return — something the Heat don’t have.

Next: What the Cousins trade means for the Heat

When it came down to it, the Heat simply didn’t have enough of the right assets to make a move at the deadline. Riley will move forward with the current group for the rest of the season, and re-evaluate it this summer.