The Miami Heat have gotten off to a pretty good start to the season and a lot of it can be attributed to one of their newest additions, their highest profiled addition, Kyle Lowry. Coming over in the offseason as a part of what amounted to a sign and trade deal between the Raptors and the Miami Heat, things seemed to be all good.
Then, the NBA announced that they would be looking into the trade that landed Lowry. They would be checking to see if any “tampering” had taken place prior to the allotted timeframe.
Here are a few more of the details of the final accord of the situation. It comes via ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowksi.
"Chicago and Miami will lose their next available second-round pick after the league concluded that the teams had impermissible discussions with representatives of the players ahead of the opening of free agency on Aug. 2. In a memo to teams obtained by ESPN, the league wrote, “Both teams fully cooperated with the investigations,” which was a factor in the penalties.As long as the Heat make the playoffs this season, they will lose the lesser of a 2022 Philadelphia or Denversecond-round pick."
The Miami Heat were in the mix of an NBA investigation surrounding landed players this past offseason. Basically, they skated with a ‘slap on the wrist’.
So, basically, the Miami Heat got off? Here was a quick statement from the Miami Heat.
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) December 1, 2021
What a time? What more are you supposed to say if you are the Miami Heat?
They basically got off with a slap on the wrist and if Pat Riley doesn’t care about draft picks, then you know a second-rounder won’t bother him. With the Miami Heat being one of, if not the absolute best, development teams in the league though, it will give him one less opportunity to find the next Max Strus, Duncan Robinson, Gabe Vincent, or whoever.
That’s fine though, as they can find those guys on the undrafted market as well. Here is another interesting little tidbit about the whole investigation and its conclusion from Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald.
By the way, the NBA ruled that the Heat made early contact with a Lowry rep. So this was NOT tampering since the team did not make early contact with the player himself.
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) December 1, 2021
Interesting. It was, but the Miami Heat and Pat Riley did what they do.
They were smarter than the rules, found a way to circumvent them, sort of, and really are only “examples” to be made of a loophole that will probably be closed by this offseason. All’s fair that ends fair.
The Miami Heat are ok. That’s all that matters.
Well, that and the fact that now Riles has to go and figure out where else he can get a leg up on the rulebook. Because trust us—he’s looking.