Heat's most obvious trade deadline chip is too valuable to shop

The Miami Heat are on the short list of the NBA's most likely blockbuster-trade seekers. While there have been more positives than negatives during their start to the 2025-26 season, nothing that has happened so far has managed to mask their lack of star power.

It feels almost cliched to say this team needs to make a major move, but that's only because it has been (and very much remains) true for a while. If the Heat find the right needle-moving trade, though, they should be careful about its construction. Because while Andrew Wiggins and his $28.2 million salary might help make the math work, he might be too good to give up.

Wiggins' impact on Miami is both obvious and growing.

At the start of this season, it felt like a lot of the good things happening for the Heat either didn't involve Wiggins or managed to be accomplished in spite of him. In his first three outings, Miami lost his 87 minutes by a whopping 30 points. He couldn't find his touch from three (20 percent), had as many turnovers as assists (six each), and was essentially a non-factor as a scorer (12.3 points).

The script has certainly flipped of late, though.

Since that wobbly start, he's up to a plus-14 over his past nine contests. And while that stat can be a bit misleading, it's pretty straightforward here. He's become an absolute asset for this group, and not only for converting for wild (and masterfully designed) game-winners.

His scoring has spiked to 19.6 points a night. His shot is red-hot from both the field (53.8 percent) and from three (44). He's even perking up his playmaking with four or more assists in four of his last five games.

He is looking, at the very least, like a rock-solid two-way wing—one of the more coveted archetypes around the Association. And while he's struggled with consistency for a good chunk of his career, maybe we're just watching him grow more comfortable in an offense the league has seldom seen.

"Guys understand our identity to defend and now can create some things for us offensively," coach Erik Spoelstra recently told reporters. "Guys are growing right before our eyes."

If nothing else, this sizzling stretch should have the Heat thinking carefully about any trade that would send Wiggins out of South Beach.

Look, he's obviously not untouchable. Few players around the league hold that status. None currently resides in Miami.

He is, however, much more than a player who could just be utilized as a salary throw-in. If the Heat ever let him go, they'd better be bringing back something awfully good in return.

Just last season, the Golden State Warriors used Wiggins as one of the primary pieces to pry Jimmy Butler away from the Heat. Granted, he was unhappy here, and a divorce was overdue by the time the deadline deal went down, but Wiggins still helped his former employer land a bona fide star.

If the trade market wouldn't help the Heat accomplish something similar, they shouldn't bother exposing Wiggins to it. As useful as his salary is for trade-machine enthusiasts, he is proving to be more valuable inside the lines.