Norman Powell may have made his first All-Star team this season, but whether to re-sign him is a far more difficult decision than perhaps the Miami Heat believed it would be. Powell is a very good player, but he's far from irreplaceable, and it's this realization that Miami may slowly be making that the LA Clippers knew all along.
In part, you'd have to imagine that it's what helped make the decision to trade him so easy for LA.
The return certainly wasn't what pushed the Clippers to trade Powell this past offseason. Instead, it very well may have been the revelation that while he is a valuable player, he's not one that you'd be willing to break the bank for.
LA already knew they weren't going to re-sign him, so they traded to get something (anything) in exchange for him. That's where the Heat stepped up. Taking a flier on Powell seemed like a no-brainer, especially considering the Heat were about to enter a "gap" year.
However, now they are faced with the problem that the Clippers had before last offseason.
The Heat have a big Norman Powell decision to make
Unfortunately for the Heat, the window to trade him is closed. Now Miami must decide whether he's worth a big-money extension, or if they should just let him walk in free agency.
The funny part about all of this is the fact that Miami may have two "Norman Powells" on its hands. That's because the Heat are essentially in the same boat as the Clippers were in, not just with Powell, but also with Herro.
They're both similar players with the same level of value. Herro is younger, but he's hardly irreplaceable. That much was proven during the first half of this season, when Powell effectively played the Herro role almost perfectly for the Heat.
LA made the proactive decision to trade Powell last summer. While the Heat may not be able to do the same with Powell, they could opt to follow a similar blueprint with Herro.
At the very least, it's certainly something the front office will have to think about.
But at least when it comes to Powell, the Heat have made their bed and are now forced to lie in it. For better or worse, the Heat will either have to sign Powell to a potentially costly extension or be perfectly fine with letting him walk for nothing in free agency.
The only in-between is a sign and trade that would almost certainly be extremely underwhelming.
At this point, the Clippers probably envisioned this exact scenario playing out and did everything they could to avoid it. It's the slow realization that the Heat have begun to make.