Miami Heat: 5 trades for Anthony Davis and other Pelicans’ players
By Trey Flynn
Trade no. 4
In this trade idea, the Miami Heat would send Goran Dragic, Hassan Whiteside, and a few draft picks, that include a 2019 unprotected first round pick, as well as a 2022 second round pick, in return for, the New Orleans Pelicans’ Jrue Holiday and Nikola Mirotic.
Essentially, the Pelicans make this deal to save money between 2020-2022 by having close to $50 million saved in those two seasons to be without Holiday’s contract, but they also have to be sold they can re-sign either Whiteside or Dragic for a much cheaper deal in the 2020 summer, as well as hope they can grab a nice asset with the Heat’s 2019 unprotected first round pick.
The Heat do this because not only do they replace Dragic with younger talent in Holiday, they get out of the Whiteside contract and also replace Derrick Jones Jr. in the interim during his injury with sharpshooting Nikola Mirotic.
While this deal is not that different from the past few, it would be the best move for Miami in terms of adding youth they can build around. Keeping all of their three kids to grow around and add Holiday to the mix, much like our second trade idea in this column, it just depends on whether New Orleans is enamored with Dragic instead of Ellington, which they may not be because of the $19 million for the dragon in the 2019-2020 season.