The Miami Heat may be dying to get their hands on another star player, but that could be difficult. Not just because they don't have a ton of assets at the moment to pull the trigger on a blockbuster deal, but also because the honest truth is that they aren't necessarily an attractive landing spot, from a roster construction standpoint, right now.
As NBA insider Brian Windhorse echoes, the Heat doesn't necessarily have a roster that will have future stars desiring to be a part of. In his argument, Windy doesn't believe that the Heat is one big move away from competing for a championship, and that may be the biggest reason why star players may not be looking at the Heat's situation optimistically.
This is a perfectly fair assessment of the Heat. They have an above-average roster, but don't have many special players aside from Bam Adebayo. Miami is in complete limbo with Tyler Herro, and who knows how that situation is going to play out over the next month.
The one move alone could put the Heat at an even more disadvantage, financially, in their pursuits to land a star player in the future.
Nikola Jovic, Pelle Larsson, Davion Mitchell, Kel'el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., and Kasparas Jakucionis give the Heat a better-than-most young core, but it remains to be seen if any of these players actually have a star ceiling. And because of that, it complicates their respective value on the trade market, even if the Heat was willing to build a trade package around any of them.
Maybe a huge jump from Jovic this season could certainly change the tune surrounding the Heat, but that's far from a foregone conclusion at this point, even despite his strong showing this offseason.
The Heat must pick a path
Perhaps most importantly, it does seem as if the Heat are still trying to balance the lure of competing for a playoff spot now while also simultaneously trying to develop their young core on the fly. It's rare when organizations are successful at doing that. Just look at how much of an issue that was for the Golden State Warriors, until they completely pulled the plug on that plan by trading for Jimmy Butler this past season.
I'm not sure how successful the Heat can be as they continue to try to balance these two philosophies. The good news for fans is that Miami is going to have to make a firm decision soon, with a decision needed on Herro's future.
That's a moment when they'll have to decide whether they want to continue to build a win-now team, or if they're going to embrace a true retooling or rebuild of their roster.
That may be necessary if the Heat are indeed going to emerge as one of the most attractive landing spots for disgruntled stars in the Association.