The Miami Heat are currently 24-24 and have a lot of regular season left in 2019, but being the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference may just make this team complacent for years to come, unless, they make a move for the predictable New Orleans Pelicans rebuild.
The Miami Heat are struggling to find their way in a league that is dominated by teams full of All-Stars and purposely bottomed out tanking teams, with the Heat treading water surrounded by other organizations that are stuck in basketball purgatory without room to grow or get worse as one of the more middling teams in the NBA.
Due to a log-jam with contracts, the Heat can not sink, nor can they swim, which has led them to be stuck in the middle of South Beach out in the Atlantic Ocean.
Thankfully, the Heat are coming up to one of the more heralded dates in NBA fandom, February 7th, which happens to be the trade deadline that may have some solid talent mixed into the rumor mill. And while “solid talent” can be overrated, as the Heat may be dealing with now as you look at which player is getting paid what, Miami seems to be in dire need of a team to have serious internal issues leading to a blowup, in order to get some “garage sale deals,” helping them snag some serious talent.
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Per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, All-Star Anthony Davis is looking to be moved to a winning team that is looking to make a run for the championship, therefore, the Pelicans may be that “blowup” team:
"“Davis is eligible to sign a five-year, $240 million supermax extension this summer. He can become a free agent in the summer of 2020. Davis’ agent, Rich Paul, did not place pressure on the Pelicans to move Davis prior to next week’s trade deadline, sources said.” “Anthony wants to be traded to a team that allows him a chance to win consistently and compete for a championship,” Paul told ESPN. “Anthony wanted to be honest and clear with his intentions and that’s the reason for informing them of this decision now. That’s in the best interests of both Anthony’s and the organization’s future.”"
Davis has decided to pass on the max-money, and while only a few teams have the desired young assets and draft picks at their disposal like the Los Angeles Lakers to make a move for Davis, there could be some surprising dark horse teams like the New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks or even the Philadelphia 76ers to come out of the woodworks in this frenzy.
The question still remains, do the Heat have enough to make one deal for Anthony Davis? If so, what is that move?
Before we get into that specific deal, there could be some potential steals on this Pelicans’ roster, as they are potentially blowing their roster up if they intend on trading Davis. Recently, from Zach Lowe of ESPN on “The Lowe Post” podcast, he illustrated a potential deal that could be made for the Pelicans’ Jrue Holiday, Julius Randle, Nikola Mirotic and/or E’Twaun Moore.
If all of those players do become available, Pat Riley should be calling GM Dell Demps in New Orleans to try and see what is possible for some potential trade ideas, besides just Anthony Davis, as that deal may be impossible.
We have 5 trade ideas that range from superstar Anthony Davis, grabbing All-Defensive combo guard Holiday, the sharpshooting Moore, as well as the punching bag himself, Mirotic.
All trade ideas have gone through the ESPN Trade Machine and are contractually legal.