If the Miami Heat do get off to a slow start this season, or if, in the end, this first year with Giannis Antetokounmpo doesn't play out how they'd hope, there is still one big move that the front office could resort to in an attempt to shake things up again.
It's the red button of combining the salaries of Bobby Portis and Nikola Jovic (along with some draft capital) to add another high-salary player.
Longtime Heat reporter Wes Goldberg and NBA salary cap analyst Yossi Gozlan were discussing the Heat's offseason and came across this quiet truth heading into the start of the first season with Giannis: the idea of a last-resort all-in move that could still be available to the Heat if needed.
"The bigger swing available to them: bundle Bobby Portis and Nikola Jovic with draft capital for a $30M player. Goldberg doesn't think that's the plan or even the first choice, but says Miami knows the option exists and values having it."
Don't expect the Heat to explore this type of move right away
Even though this may seem like an appealing path for the Heat to go down, especially for a fan base that is starving for even more roster changes, I can't imagine the front office is going to pull this trigger soon. Or perhaps at all.
The addition of Klay Thompson last week is likely going to be the last surprise pull from the front office for now. This is the roster that the Heat are almost certainly going to enter Giannis' first season with.
And that's not a bad thing.
The Heat may not have the same depth as the San Antonio Spurs or Oklahoma City Thunder, but they should be able to hold their own, assuming health, even in an improved Eastern Conference.
But as both Goldberg and Gozlan discussed, if the Heat needed to find a path to shaking up the roster one more time, the route toward achieving that is pretty clear. Combining the rosters of Portis and Jovic would allow the Heat to take on a player who is being paid roughly $30 million per year.
That's not necessarily a max-level star in today's game, but there's reason to believe that they could snag a pretty high-profile game-changer if needed.
The Heat should feel good about their roster heading into the start of the season, and fans shouldn't be anticipating any big changes on the horizon. However, it should also feel good that, if needed, the Heat do have one more all-in button to push as a bit of insurance.
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