Miami Heat Rumors: Heat could have been ‘bidder for Durant and Kawhi’

The Miami Heat are coming off a terrible, disgustful loss to the Chicago Bulls, once again, bringing the Heat to an under .500 record of 24-25. What will the future hold for this Heat team? Looks like nothing good.

With the Miami Heat losing in an incredibly disappointing 16 point loss, 105-89, to the Chicago Bulls, Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra may have to look in the mirror and decide what they need to do moving forward.

As the February 7th trade deadline approaches, and Miami’s woes continue, the Heat have to decide on whether to put faith into their group of middling talented overpaid role players or to let them go for the hopes of better horizons for both parties. In an ideal world, one would hope that when All-Star Goran Dragic returns, that the Heat can pick up the tempo leading up to the postseason and all of this trade drama will quiet down.

However, through ESPN’s Zach Lowe’s podcast, we heard Brian Windhorst illustrate the frustration with the Heat’s cap due to who they could potentially be fighting for at the moment:

"“I think you can say this about every available star. If there was a different situation, Miami would be in all these people. I think they’d be a bidder for Durant and Kawhi, but they’re not. Their cap is loaded and their team is low on talent.”"

While Windhorst has constantly stated for months now that the Heat have an overbearing amount of double-digit contracts for above average players, this quote hurts the most, as it points out the obvious, which is that South Beach would be one of the more attractive locations for most of these superstars we often talk about. Whether the star is Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard or even Kyrie Irving, we could be talking about any of the top tier players in the league wanting to play in a Heat jersey.

The Idea that the Heat were essentially two contracts away by not re-signing Tyler Johnson and Dion Waiters‘ for big money, in which they could have saved cap and snuck a Leonard or Durant in, really frustrates any Heat fan to no end.

Once again, even with this just being a quote from a famous analyst, this is eye-opening to Heat fandom, as it illustrates the potential superstar team the Heat could possibly have in near future if they decided on moving some of their big cap players.

However, you have to find the right trades for said players, and maybe it is time too?

Time will tell, but if Miami continues to play mediocre basketball as a .500 team, barely making the Eastern Conference playoffs, you could maybe see a deal made this summer sending a few high cap players elsewhere, if they are not moved by the February 7th deadline. But, there are some players that would need extra meat added to their package in order to move them because of their unnecessarily high cap, like Hassan Whiteside. Unfortunately, Miami does not have much to add to these overpaid players, with their draft picks being some of their more rare assets.

Ultimately, I believe that Riley and Spo will ride this roster out and see what they look like once Dragic is back by All-Star break, and if a deal is made, expect Wayne Ellington or Rodney McGruder to be the guys moved by the deadline.