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Miami Heat: Analysis of ESPN+’s proposed trade for Russell Westbrook

Duncan Smith|
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 17: Russell Westbrook #0 of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Team Giannis reacts alongside Dwyane Wade #3 of the Miami Heat and Team LeBron during the NBA All-Star game as part of the 2019 NBA All-Star Weekend at Spectrum Center on February 17, 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Team LeBron won 178-164. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 17: Russell Westbrook #0 of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Team Giannis reacts alongside Dwyane Wade #3 of the Miami Heat and Team LeBron during the NBA All-Star game as part of the 2019 NBA All-Star Weekend at Spectrum Center on February 17, 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Team LeBron won 178-164. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

ESPN+’s Insiders devised a number of fake trades for Russell Westbrook, including one for the Miami Heat. We’ll take a look and see if it’s viable.

As free agency winds down and the Russell Westbrook trade sweepstakes heat up, fake trade season is upon us. ESPN+’s NBA Insiders came up with a series of possible trades for Westbrook, including a trade for the Miami Heat that may satisfy the Oklahoma City Thunder’s desires.

The piece is linked here (subscription required), but the specific trades listed are contained in the following tweet:

As seen above, the Heat trade would consist of the following:

While this effectively fills positions on both rosters as wings and point guards are swapped, it leaves a few glaring issues to address. First and foremost, the Thunder are sure to want to get out of the luxury tax in any deal involving Russell Westbrook, but this transaction actually adds almost $660,000 in salary to the Thunder’s books, actually pushing them about $5 million over the luxury tax.

In a two-team deal between the Thunder and Heat, salaries must run very close because the Heat must stay below the hard cap, which they are $2.8 million shy of, and the Thunder have little incentive to make trades that don’t get them out of the tax. This trade works for the Heat, but it doesn’t satisfy a primary component of any Westbrook deal for the Thunder.

This would also shorten the Heat’s roster from its current 14 players (which is the league minimum) to 13, which means that they would need to add a player to their roster. They would have just $3.5 million with which to add a player, which is well above the league minimum that is all they have to work with anyway, but it shortens up their future flexibility significantly if they hope to make trades or other transactions this season.

This trade is not ideal from a salary perspective for either team, but the players swapping do fit with their prospective teams. The trade would also be a deviation from the theory that any team trading for Russell Westbrook should consider it to be a salary dump for the Thunder, and actually insist on receiving draft picks rather than sending them out, but that philosophy might be difficult to reconcile with how the Thunder likely view Westbrook.

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