If the Miami Heat could acquire Ja Morant without including any of their future draft picks, Kel'el Ware, or Tyler Herro, it would be a dream scenario for the franchise. Interestingly enough, especially with how little reported interest there is in Morant at the moment, there's a pathway toward Miami pulling it off.
In such a scenario, the Heat would send an iteration of Terry Rozier, Simone Fontecchio, Jaime Jaquez Jr., and a future pick swap to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Morant.
While it may not meet the threshold of what the Grizzlies reportedly are asking for (a young player and a future first-round pick), it does come awfully close. And if the trade market for Morant doesn't expand in the next few weeks, it's an offer that Memphis may have to seriously consider taking.
Maybe there's a scenario where it's Nikola Jovic and Kasparas Jakucionis instead of Jaquez Jr. in the deal, but anything around that, without including a future first-round pick, would be a huge win for the Heat.
Why the Heat needs to land Ja Morant on their terms
Why? Well, it's as simple as this: The Heat would be able to land Morant without tapping into the asset chest that will be needed for a potential pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
If they can pull this off on their terms, there's a scenario where the Heat adds Morant now, and then pushes for a Giannis trade when there's more clarity (or uncertainty) revolving his future in Milwaukee during the summer.
At the end of the day, you'd have to imagine that a high priority for the Heat in all this is that, no matter what happens with Morant, they maintain flexibility for a potential pursuit of Giannis.
Miami would love to have Morant. Even though they would never admit it, because that's not how Pat Riley does business, that's pretty clear. However, the Heat's endgame has always led them to Giannis.
Whether or not he'll ever hit the trade block or free agency remains to be seen, and is a valid question. But that does seem like what the plan is for the Heat moving forward.
If there's a path toward landing Morant and then still having the assets to pursue Giannis, that'd be a dream scenario for the Heat. And, no matter how unlikely it may seem, there does seem to be a small window of opportunity for that playing out.
And it all begins by finding a way to acquire Morant for an extremely low price, one that may be getting more likely by the day.