Miami Heat: Is shedding contracts worth enough to take on CP3’s deal?
The Miami Heat seemed to have just missed out on Russell Westbrook, who was subsequently traded to Houston. Is CP3 the way to go now? Is it worth it?
The Miami Heat were in the thick of the Russell Westbrook talks. They were seemingly on the cusp of making the deal happen.
Then, on Thursday night, the news came down. Russell Westbrook had been traded to the Houston Rockets for Chris Paul and a slew of draft picks.
This obviously took Westbrook off the board for the Miami Heat, but it was not long after this deal had been broken by the media that other rumors and speculation started to swirl. Many reporters and media outlets, including the authority on matters such as these in Adrian Wojnarowski, started to report that the Miami Heat may be interested in taking on Chris Paul’s albatross of a contract.
Houston hoped to find third-team destination preferable to Chris Paul, but ultimately leaves it OKC to execute next step once Presti confers w/ CP3 agent Leon Rose. Miami remains possibility for Paul (3 years, $124M) -- and OKC obviously has picks to incentivize deal, if needed.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 12, 2019
While these rumors weren’t really a shock to the system, as they were bound to occur being that the Miami Heat were very in on the Russell Westbrook talks, they weren’t the best thing to hear about the Miami Heat’s next potential move. Then on Friday, it was reported that although the Heat were poking around the idea of perhaps taking Paul from the Oklahoma City Thunder, they weren’t chasing him or extremely “aggressive” in the pursuit of Paul. This tweet from Barry Jackson illustrates the report.
Per league source, Heat doing due diligence on Chris Paul, but there is no aggressive pursuit on Heat's part, unlike efforts to get Westbrook before his trade yesterday
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) July 12, 2019
While this is a good sign as to what the Miami Heat and Pat Riley are thinking and how they plan to go about their business from here on out, it is worth the pondering. Specifically here, if the Miami Heat were to become more aggressive in their pursuit of Paul, is it really worth it? Would the ability to possibly shed a few contracts be worth taking on the money that Paul is due over the next few seasons?