Allowing teams to swap players on a trial run, might add even more strategy ahead of the February trade deadline.
The NBA’s commissioner Adam Silver has consistently shown a proclivity to embrace change.
In the past, Silver has noted that he’s not beholden to an arbitrary, 82-game season as well as the possibility of reformatting the playoffs. Most recently, the league’s head honcho drove forward the decision to remodel the All-Star Game, by choosing captains and picking teams from a player pool.
While not televising the All-Star Draft has led to backlash, all of this is to say the NBA’s willingness to diverge from antiquated ideas is refreshing, as the league balloons in viewership.
In keeping with the spirt of change and the looming February 8 trade deadline, the league could consider another means to shake things up: a loaner program.
I’ll lead with this; a loaner program, in which teams swap players on a week-to-week basis, could have horrifying public relations outcomes. Getting traded is already a harrowing experience, so imagine the turmoil of Player “X” being dealt, only to be brought back a few games later, after one or both teams agree to null the trade.
That aside, the potential for any of the league’s 30 clubs to exchange players to tryout potential, mid-season pieces, could spark new life for teams in an era dominated by contending for titles or tanking for draft picks.
Keeping the loaner rules simple, akin to the waiver or buyout regulations, would be the key to the program’s success. Limit each squad to a single, two-team trade leading up to the deadline, for a max of a month.
Instead of waiting until the February deadline to make moves, teams could indulge their creative sides and test out potential lineups with new members.
The Miami Heat, who have been briefly mentioned in the season’s trade rumors, could benefit from such a program. With Dion Waiters out after ankle surgery, Miami might be interested in another scoring option. Enter the Charlotte Hornets’ Kemba Walker, who was recently tossed onto the trade block.
As far as salaries are concerned, the Heat could turn a combination of Bam Adebayo, Justise Winslow and Wayne Ellington, into the former University of Connecticut stud.
Realistically however, the Hornets are looking to offload more than Walker’s paltry $12 million salary, and the Heat would suffer without Ellington’s sharpshooting, Winslow’s playmaking and Adebayo’s potential.
Still, given Miami’s dearth of draft picks, anything short of a playoff run this year might boil down to restructuring the roster come the offseason. Thus, a loaner program would give teams like the Heat the chance to taste the organization’s future direction.
Should we prioritize a starting scorer this summer, is something team president Pat Riley might ponder while stroking his three Miami Heat championship rings. Or maybe, general manager Andy Elisburg would use the program to hunt down another 3-point maestro, to share minutes with Ellington off the bench.
The noncommittal nature of teams loaning out players ahead of the offseason would foster even more strategy, in a league defined by playing “four-dimensional chess.”
Successful at the moment, the fourth placed Eastern Conference Miami Heat have plenty to consider in continuing to play with the current core.
Next: The Miami Heat conclude five-game road trip versus Houston Rockets
Theorycrafting through a remodeled trade program could redefine the way they, and the rest of the league, approach free agency and the offseason.