Heat free agency 2017: 4 wings Miami should target

1. Gordon Hayward, Utah Jazz

With Kevin Durant seemingly out of the picture, Hayward presents as the best wing option for the Heat.

And it’s not a bad consolation prize.

Hayward is coming off a career year for the Jazz, named an All-Star team for the first time in leading the way to 51 wins for the Jazz. Over the season, Hayward averaged 21.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 34.5 minutes per game.

As impressive as anything was Hayward’s shooting efficiency, producing .471/.398/.844 shooting split’s across the board. His even spread on the offensive end is evident – 32.4 percent of his field goal attempts were from behind three, 26.9 percent from within five feet of the rim, and the remaining 40.7 percent between five feet from the rim and the three-point line.

At 6-foot-8, Hayward’s versatility simply sets him apart from the field. This season, 51.6 percent of his field goal’s made were assisted, with 48.4 percent unassisted.  During the course of the season, the Jazz produced an offensive rating of 109.5 with Hayward on the court, and just 103.7 when he was off the floor.

Hayward’s best performance of his outstanding season was a 39-point outburst against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Shooting 14-of-22 from the field, this represented one of 13 games where Hayward scored at least 30 points. The Jazz were 9-4 over those games.

If Hayward were to depart Utah, the Boston Celtics are seen as the biggest threat to sign Hayward due to his relationship with Celtics’ head coach Brad Stevens, Hayward’s college coach at Butler.

Following the end of the Jazz’s season, Hayward was relatively non-committal as to his future:

"These opportunities don’t come around very much. That’s why you hire an agent, to deal with this type of stuff. I’m sure he’s going to go through all of the options for me, let me know what can happen. I know there’s a lot of stuff that can definitely go down. So, once I sit down and talk with him, we’ll move forward from there.”"

The most team’s not named Utah can offer Hayward this summer is a four-year, $130 million deal. While this would certainly affect the futures of Waiters and Johnson in Miami, Hayward simply represents an elite talent who would fait like a glove in Miami’s famed culture of excellence.

Next: Here are 4 reasons why Gordon Hayward should sign with the Heat

Now it’s up to Pat Riley to wield his magic one more time in luring Hayward to South Beach this July.