The Miami Heat’s season ended badly across a six-game NBA Finals series. Kendrick Nunn showed us some things he hadn’t previously shown though.
The Miami Heat’s season is done. They were defeated by the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals.
It was a tough series for the team and even tougher at times to watch as a fan. It wasn’t all bad though.
We had quite a few players grow up during the bubble and the playoffs, where the NBA Finals experience can only help them become better.
That’s just it though. Some of them even showed us some things that they hadn’t previously shown us a ton of throughout the regular year.
While Tyler Herro‘s star elevated to unseen heights in the playoffs, his fellow rookie in Kendrick Nunn might have also did himself some favors. Across the last two games of the NBA Finals, Nunn’s first real taste of playoff action, he was really good.
The Miami Heat had some talented rookies this season. Did one save himself in the Finals?
What really stood out about Nunn in those appearances was his ability to be a playmaker, facilitating and creating for his teammates as well as himself. For us to see such a heavy dosage of that side of Nunn was a beautiful thing to see.
Usually a score first and only guard, he has the ability to pass, but he hasn’t shown it with as much purposeful functionality as he did in those two games. He did it so well then, that it has us wondering about something else.
Did he play himself off the trading block with those two games? We ask because everything we have seen since the NBA Bubble started would indicate that if the Miami Heat were going to move someone, it would be him.
His last two performances make you wonder though. Should the Miami Heat trade him?
Is this just a part of his natural growth and evolution, or was that a facade? Who knows, but it is definitely something that Pat Riley has to now think about.
I don’t know the answer and I won’t begin to prognosticate, as it’s truly a tough decision at this point. In Pat Riley we trust though, because we can count on him to do what’s best.