The Miami Heat were hot on the trails of Bradley Beal all throughout the summer. Does the sudden emergence of Kendrick Nunn make that a moot point?
Through four games this season, Kendrick Nunn is averaging 21 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.25 assists. While he has definitely been a pleasant surprise for Miami Heat fans, those inside of the building apparently knew what they had in the rookie guard out of Oakland University in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
While Jimmy Butler was out for the first few games of the season due to the birth of his daughter, Nunn was the starting two-guard for the team. While many of us thought that Nunn was the guy filling in for Jimmy Butler, meaning that he would return to the bench once Butler returned from his sabbatical, that wasn’t actually the case.
According to all reports, Nunn was slated to start alongside Butler the entire time, sending Herro to the pine in a bench role. What this definitely continues to confirm though is that Coach Spo and the Miami Heat knew what they had in Nunn. Does this knowledge also reflect in their seeming lack of aggression in going after Bradley Beal this past summer?
Perhaps, that definitely seems like a viable scenario. While we can’t be certain if that actually influenced the attempts to land Beal or not, there is something we can be fairly certain about. The emergence of Nunn and in the fashion that he has makes possibly acquiring Beal pointless.
Plain and simple, the Miami Heat should no longer be interested there. While we have only seen a few games worth of Nunn, meaning we don’t know if he can sustain it over 82 games, we do know he can do it more often than not based on what he’s done to open the season.
This is in no way attempting to say that he is or is better than Bradley Beal, but what it is saying is that he is on his way to being a similar, if not a better quality player. One of the biggest things to consider when taking inventory of the interest of the Miami Heat in any player is the corresponding salary that said player will bring back with him.
When looking at the $27 and near $29 million Beal was set to make this season and next season, it is a far cry from the near $1.5 million that Nunn will make in both years, not to mention the $30 plus million annually that his most recent extension sets him up for afterward. Talent-wise, although Beal is ahead of Nunn as far as consistency goes, Nunn is pretty equitable based on what we have seen thus far. His mix of shooting and on-ball guard abilities equates nicely with what Beal could have offered this Heat team.
When looking at the fit, that is a slam dunk in the favor of Nunn. While Beal has gotten used to being the guy with the oft-injured John Wall as his wingman, along with the fact that Beal’s all-around offensive game is superior to Wall’s, he has probably taken a liking to that role.
How would have that played out on the Miami Heat? By all means, he would have gotten his shots, but he probably wouldn’t have been the main guy with Jimmy Butler in tow. This isn’t a concern you have to have with Kendrick Nunn, who has come up and been ingratiated into the Miami Heat system already.
Essentially, when looking at it from all important angles, fit, skillset, salary, Nunn has made the potential acquisition of Beal a moot point. Is he the same guy or as good as Beal, yet? No, but what he is, is a much cheaper, much more malleable version of the same type of player.