Miami Heat Rumors: Is Jae Crowder price tag worth it?

The Miami Heat have found themselves in quite the position. With NBA training camps around the league set to open any day now, they still don’t have a specific option at the power forward position.

While they have a few worthy names to try at the spot and some that you know could do it but shouldn’t, they don’t have anyone that they can feel comfortable projecting into that role for the long haul yet. Well, there is no one that is currently on the roster.

A one-time, not such a long time ago in fact, member of the Miami Heat, Jae Crowder and the Phoenix Suns appear headed for a breakup. And with all of that in play, some reports suggest that a return to the Miami Heat wouldn’t be too unpleasant for Crowder.

Here is what Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald thinks of the whole scenario.

"We hear Jae Crowder would welcome a return to the Heat and ESPN’s Brian Windhorst — while not mentioning the Heat or any team — said the Suns are “are in trade negotiations right now. A lot of them are centered around Jae Crowder."

The Miami Heat have a need at power forward and the Suns are looking to get off of one in Jae Crowder. Could it be a perfect time to reunite?

"Jae Crowder is a player who is available on the market right now.” The problem is crafting a deal, within salary cap rules, that would satisfy both teams. It be surprising if the Suns were willing to take the final four years and $75 million of Duncan Robinson’s deal for Crowder, who is due $10.2 million in an expiring contract. It would be surprising if the Heat was willing to offer a first-round pick in a trade for Crowder."

While the annual average value on Crowder’s expiring deal is half of the average yearly value of the remaining four years of Duncan Robinson’s deal, you’d expect them to not be interested in taking him and that contract on right now.

However, the first-round pick business of it all is interesting. The Miami Heat are about winning.

Over the last 10 years, the Miami Heat have gone to the playoffs seven times, with one of those trips being the final title of the Big 3 Era. What that means is that the Miami Heat don’t often have one of the premier first-round draft picks.

They’ve only picked in the top 10 once in the last decade (Justise Winslow at 10th overall in 2015), while they’ve only picked in the lottery three times in that span including Winslow (Bam Adebayo at 14th overall in 2017 and Tyler Herro at 13th overall in 2019).

So, when you think about the fact that they don’t typically end up with a high luxury pick anyway, it might not be so bad to move that pick for a definite contributor to fill a need. When considering that particular need, how close they are up against the season, and their chance to continue to contend, it might be a worthwhile move.