The Miami Heat remain firmly entrenched in the Ja Morant trade rumor mill, a development that comes with all sorts of risks, curiosities, and frankly, inescapable downsides. But their interest makes a lot more sense now that we know what they would be willing to give up to acquire him: essentially nothing.
During a recent spot on SiriusXM’s Dunks and Deals, Marc Stein of The Stein Line revealed that the Heat have no plans, as of now, to surrender anything or anyone of material value in exchange for the Memphis Grizzlies’ point guard.
“Miami, we know, is interested,” he explained on SiriusXM (h/t Bryan Fonseca of the New York Post). There has been some dialogue between the teams. How far it’s actually gone, I imagine the Heat would just try to steal him for expiring [money]. I don’t know how far the Heat would be willing to go as far as draft capital and young players to put into an offer.”
This is a stance that Heat fans should celebrate. It makes the prospect of landing Morant far more palatable if Memphis sells low—almost entirely because of the possibilities it would leave at their disposal.
The Heat are smart to play hardball in Ja Morant trade talks
Aggressively pursuing Morant would make sense if he were consistently playing at an All-NBA level—or consistently playing at all. He is not. He has missed around 55 percent of Memphis’ regular-season games since 2023-24, and has, for the most part, not looked good when actually on the floor this year.
Even if the Heat could guarantee his health, they do not have the same assurances about his fit. The three-point shooting is ugly. The defense is uglier. He isn’t getting to the rim as frequently. Oh, and Miami just so happens to employ Noah LaRoche, the assistant coach largely responsible for implementing the offensive system in Memphis last year that Morant despised.
We have not even gotten to Miami’s other backcourt options already in place. Norman Powell has been more valuable than Morant the past two years. Tyler Herro isn’t having the healthiest or hottest season, but his ability to work away from the ball on offense gives him the decided edge over the current version of Morant.
With so many red flags and question marks attached to Ja, the Heat have little reason to move off their Terry Rozier-plus-salary stance that (it sounds like) they’re assuming. This is driven home even further when looking at their competition for his services…because they may not have any.
Here is why landing Ja Morant at a steep discount matters
As Stein also divulged on SiriusXM, the Grizzlies do not have “clear-cuit suitors” lining up for Morant at the moment. They have lowered their asking price accordingly, to one first-round pick, and a young player. Miami should be hesitant to ship out even that much.
Never mind everything we just discussed. The Heat have bigger acquisitions in mind. They will not, and should not, remove themselves from the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes. They must be considered out of it before pivoting away from that pipe dream. Right now, the ambition is alive and well, even if an outcome may not be imminent.
Any trade package for Morant must be cobbled together with this in mind. Even forking over a first-round swap should be considered prohibitive. The Heat need every one of their assets for Giannis, or another consensus top-15 player. It appears they know as much, otherwise they would not be peddling what amounts to salary-matching for Ja.
Refusing to move off this stance could, of course, culminate in Morant being shipped elsewhere. And you know what? That’s perfectly fine. Miami setting boundaries on what it’s willing to give up for a player who provides them very little immediate or future assurances is its own victory—regardless of whether it lands Morant.