The Miami Heat have been linked to Kevin Durant and Donovan Mitchell all offseason. Now, there is another star who has been associated with Heat trade rumors, well, sort of.
That player is Lakers superstar Anthony Davis.
The former champion and eight-time All-Star is one of the top talents in the NBA. He is a defensive-minded and versatile big man who would fit well in Miami’s system.
The only issue with acquiring Davis is how the Heat would acquire him.
In a quote from his podcast, Bill Simmons suggested that in the event a call came through to the Miami Heat, this would be their response.
"“‘We’ll give you Anthony Davis for Jimmy Butler,’ Miami is either doing it or they’re having a seven-hour meeting before they decide not to do it. But I just think they would do it. If they can turn Jimmy Butler into Anthony Davis, I think they do it.”"
Asking the Heat to trade their best player would be a heavy price and a huge risk. However, Anthony Davis is a great player. Would it be worth trading Jimmy Butler to acquire Davis?
Right now, the answer is no, but it isn’t quite that simple. Here is why.
Miami Heat: Trading Jimmy Butler For Anthony Davis Wouldn’t Make Sense
First, let’s examine some of the pros of swapping Jimmy Butler for Anthony Davis. When both players are healthy, most people can agree that The Brow is the better NBA talent.
It is hard to dispute that. Davis is as good of a defender as Butler, if not better.
He is an elite shot blocker and can defend all positions. Furthermore, he helps with some of Miami’s weaknesses.
First, he is a great scorer from nearly every spot on the floor. He would also add a lot of size to the team.
Having Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis leading the Miami Heat frontcourt would cause several opposing matchup problems with the havoc both players could cause on both ends of the floor.
Davis is a few years younger than Butler and should have a few more years left of his prime before he starts to decline. It could be argued that Butler’s skills would age better than Davis’s skills.
However, Davis’s skill set should also translate very well into his late years in the NBA, with or without his current athletic ability.
Miami Heat: Davis Misses A Lot Of Games And Wouldn’t Be Best Fit With Bam
Ideally, trading for Anthony Davis would be a no-brainer. In reality, however, it would not make sense for the Miami Heat to give up their best player for Davis.
First of all, he suffers too many injuries. Last season, he played 40 games.
The season before that, he played only 36. He also missed some important playoff games during the 2021 playoffs.
While his Lakers had a 2-1 lead over the Suns, they ended up losing three games straight, partly because of the absence of Davis. The Heat have already dealt with enough injuries the past few seasons.
They do not need to risk adding a player who will not be available when they need him most. Second, the Adebayo-Davis pairing only works if one of the two can shoot.
Bam has allegedly been working on his shooting, but we do not know what his shot is going to look like next season. There are no guarantees that he becomes a legitimate perimeter threat.
Davis has been atrocious from three-point range over the last two seasons. This past season, he shot a near league-worst 18.6 percent from three.
That was only good enough for the 490th place ranking among all qualifying players this past season. Again, he isn’t a good enough outside shooter either.
Anthony Davis is one of the top ten players in the NBA. If the Miami Heat had an opportunity to acquire him in the future, he could be a great addition to the team.
However, the time for that is not now. Fortunately, it is unlikely that the Heat would ever part ways with Jimmy Butler, especially after the way he has carried them in the playoffs during their two deeper runs during his tenure.
And if the Heat are considering trading him for Anthony Davis right now, they would be making a huge mistake.