The Miami Heat are going to quickly find out that Tyler Herro doesn't have much trade value, but, as the Atlanta Hawks quickly realized with Trae Young, it's not necessarily a personal thing. It's more of an existential crisis that is taking place across the league.
If the plan for the Heat is to trade Herro, who will have just one year remaining on his contract, they're going to be in for a rude awakening.
Herro is far from the perfect player, but his expected trade value this summer is going to be far from who he is as a player. It's just the nature of where the NBA is at the moment as it pertains to the type of player Herro represents.
Right now, there's just not much value for high-volume scorers that struggle on the defensive end of the floor. It's the issue that the LA Clippers ran into when they traded Norman Powell last summer, what the Hawks had to overcome to trade Young a couple of months ago, and likely what the Heat will face if they attempt to move on from Herro in a few months.
And that's going to be even more so the case if Herro continues to struggle with the nagging injuries that have forced him to miss the majority of this season.
The Heat's difficult future with Tyler Herro
Trading Herro, because of his one-sided play, was going to be difficult enough for the Heat. The fact that Herro has only played in 11 regular-season games is likely going to increase the level of difficulty in pulling off an offseason trade.
At this point, the Heat have to be hoping that Herro can return to All-Star form at some point soon and perhaps finish the season off strong. However, there's no guarantee that will happen.
The latest Herro injury updates have been pretty mysterious, with Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra only stating that he's making progress. There's still no timeline for a return for Herro.
I'm not sure how much should be read into that, but it's certainly going to play a role in whether the Heat is able to trade him for positive value this summer.
Could the Heat opt for an extension instead?
If the Heat decided that it's just not worth trading Herro, you can't help but wonder if Miami would opt for an extension instead. I can't envision that happening with the way things stand between the Heat and Herro at the moment, but I suppose it can't be considered completely off the table.
After all, we've seen the Heat do some pretty odd things when it comes to extensions in the past. Maybe the Heat believes Herro can build his trade value back up?
Either way, the Heat has no easy river to cross this offseason with Herro. And, at this point, it's impossible to predict how everything will unravel.
One thing is for sure, though, and it's the fact that the Heat are going to get hit with the realization that the Hawks and Clippers were when they traded Young and Powell, respectively, for pennies on the dollar.