The Miami Heat don't appear to be actively negotiating with the Memphis Grizzlies on the Ja Morant front, but the path toward acquiring him may have somehow gotten even easier over the last few days. Which makes one believe that the Heat's Giannis Antetokounmpo backup plan may already be set in stone.
After the Grizzlies traded Jaren Jackson Jr. in a blockbuster deal to the Utah Jazz, you can only imagine that the urgency to trade Morant has grown. The recent reporting also seems to indicate that Morant's trade value hasn't exactly improved in the last couple of weeks.
But there may not be a more encouraging development for the Heat than the fact that one reporter seems to think that Morant's camp is really pushing for a trade to Miami.
Ja Morant wants to be traded to the Heat
While that's all well and good, and certainly something that will appeal to Heat fans, this front office is not even going to entertain such a possibility until there's some sort of resolution on the Giannis front.
And the more you think about it, the only way that the Heat will likely seriously explore a trade for Morant is if they whiff on Giannis. Or if the Milwaukee Bucks decide to take this bidding war into the offseason.
At that point, the Heat would have to consider backup options - with Morant being one of the more clear ones.
If Miami still wanted to make a non-Giannis splash at the deadline, it does feel like they could easily pivot to Morant. The fact that it probably wouldn't cost them much makes it much more likely.
It's probably something Heat fans should be preparing for if it came to this. To be quite honest, Morant isn't that bad of a plan B if their grand plans for Giannis don't work out.
Make no mistake; it will certainly feel like a disappointment, but it's a solid gamble for the Heat to make. Even though not many expected Giannis to play a huge factor at this year's NBA Trade Deadline, this is an opportunity that kind of fell into the Heat's laps before they thought it would.
Nevertheless, it does make a ton of sense for them to sort that out first, especially considering that they've practically been building toward this for the past few years.
But Morant is not just a consolation prize. If the Heat believes in their developmental system, they should feel strongly about their ability to build Morant back into the player he was a couple of years ago.
And if the Heat can do that, they could still be a threat in the Eastern Conference without Giannis. It may take some time, but they can absolutely get there.
If these recent rumors are accurate, it does seem like there's a good chance the Heat is going to get a talent upgrade in the next 48 hours. And Giannis or Morant seems to be very much in play.