Miami Heat: It’s time to move on from the Kevin Durant pipe dream

An interesting road lies ahead for the Miami Heat. They’re still weeks away from training camp and unless the unimaginable happens, there’s a good chance that their summer of trade speculations will continue for a little longer.

You can call it a roller coaster, per se, but from the very moment the Heat were eliminated from this year’s Eastern Conference Finals, the demand for them to acquire another go-to scoring threat has been an ongoing theme.

Nonetheless, those among the Miami Heat Faithful still believe that there’s a chance.

Those aspirations were ignited, once again, when Brooklyn Nets forward, Kevin Durant, reiterated his trade request earlier in the week.

In hopes of reconciliation, Durant met with Nets team-owner, Joe Tsai, in a scheduled meeting but with frustrations between both him and the organization, the 12-time All-Star’s desire to play for a new franchise now remains in an unrelenting state.

In wake of Durant’s trade request, which had initially come out on June 30th, the Heat have reportedly been a team to have garnered the star forward’s interest. As the Nets have certainly listened to offers, it hasn’t cost Miami a dime to keep their name in the hat—and entertain the idea, at least.

Miami Heat: It’s Time To Move On From The Kevin Durant Pipe Dream

But what’s being widely misunderstood here is that for as big as the situation is itself, that’s still only a small fraction of the battle.

THE HEAT NEED MORE THAN A MUSTARD SEED TO MOVE THE DURANT MOUNTAIN.

Surely, you can never pass up the opportunity of acquiring a generational talent. If done correctly, it can steer your franchise to a world championship.

For Miami, they’d like to accomplish that once more before President Pat Riley closes his executive tenure.

But this can’t be done without letting go of several key assets, all while quite possibly sabotaging the organization for many forthcoming years.

What’s primarily kept the Heat away from successfully landing Durant is their inability to perform a single-team deal. With such a great aura that surrounds Durant as a player, this makes him an even tougher get, as he’s set to make, at least, $44 million over the next four seasons.

In order to pry the former 2014 Most Valuable Player away from Brooklyn, it’s going to take a historically large haul and for the Heat, they’re currently being projected to be outbid by other teams.

Miami Heat: Deals Require Satisfaction For Multiple Sides And That’s The Issue

Let’s take the James Harden and Ben Simmons swap, for example, or even the 2013 trade that sent eventual Hall of Fame inductees, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, to Brooklyn. Those transactions were successful because the respective franchises were able to create an agreeable yet bilateral deal.

It gets tricky for Miami because they’ve ultimately refrained from including Jimmy Butler or Bam Adebayo in any potential scenario. However, the reluctance of giving up either top talent is quite understandable, as each player has elevated this franchise’s return to contention status.

Not to mention that per the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, Miami wouldn’t be able to include Bam Adebayo in a single-team deal to Brooklyn, for reasons regarding his Designated Rookie Extension contract status.

The agreement states that any player who is under a Designated Rookie Extension contract cannot be dealt to a team that includes a player on the same type of deal. This very much applies to Simmons, who the Nets would also need to trade along with Durant to, potentially, acquire Adebayo.

Miami Heat: Even If The Semantics Could Be Worked Out, Is It Worth It?

Even if the semantics could be worked out without moving the core pieces, there is another part to all of that too.

IF NOT JIMMY AND BAM, THE HEAT’S OTHER TRADABLE PIECES AREN’T TOO APPEALING. 

With the intent of keeping their two highest-paid players, the Heat would next be left with Kyle Lowry and Duncan Robinson’s contracts, which combine for about $45.2 million in outgoing salary.

While this does match the incoming salary that would be Durant’s $44.2 million, they would then need to include Tyler Herro, a younger asset to make the deal more enticing to actually take. The Heat will not be able to complete a superstar trade of any kind without including the Sixth Man of The Year winner.

As Herro is now extension-eligible, he stands as Miami’s best-valued asset at just $5.7 million for next season (team option). Lastly, the Heat’s draft compensation, including pick-swaps, would also be needed.

They do have an option of trading to unprotect their 2025 pick from Oklahoma City, which would provide access to more future draft selections. However, this is essentially the same function as a three-team deal.

This just isn’t an ideal exchange for the Nets, who would be receiving two players no younger than the age of 28. On an even worse note, Lowry and Robinson’s contracts aren’t expiring next year and are fully guaranteed for 2023-24.

Miami Heat: Best Chance At Long Haul Contention May Mean Not Dealing For KD

But even from the Heat’s perspective, they’re losing Herro’s scoring, Lowry’s playmaking, and Robinson’s off-ball shooting—despite last year’s struggles. Even if it comes at the expense of trading for Durant, those aspects are very difficult to replace.

It makes it all more imperative for Miami to bring in that third team, but one with cap space (Oklahoma City or San Antonio) in order to dump, at least, one of Lowry or Robinson’s salaries.

IT’S WITHIN THE MIAMI HEAT’S BEST INTEREST TO WITHDRAW FROM ALL KEVIN DURANT TALKS. 

There’s a fine line between optimism and delusion. Whenever a player of Durant’s caliber requests a trade, the media hits another realm of imagination.

Unfortunately for Miami, they’re not a team that should get carried away, nor should they put themselves in a position of doing so. It’s not so much that they don’t have the ammunition to acquire Durant—as much as that they shouldn’t look to expend it all now.

When healthy and available, this is a competitive roster that has four capable All-Stars. To follow, they have a respectable supporting cast and a strong developmental system.

You simply won’t win in this league if your team doesn’t have the depth to compete. With Durant having just one season with 70 games played in the last five years, the 34-year-old’s mileage is concerning for any team that intends to clear their entire bench for him.

Even if Miami doesn’t acquire Durant or any perennial All-Star this summer, this is a team that can finish high in the Eastern Conference standings—again for the third time in four years.

That can, of course, be accomplished if they keep Butler, Adebayo, Lowry, and Tyler Herro—all of who were the team’s four leading scorers from last season. By any means, the Miami Heat aren’t in the wrong for having an interest in Durant but from top to bottom, there are methods and procedures that are the foundation of their winning culture.

These are norms and standards that they shouldn’t shy away from and even for a talent of Durant’s magnitude.