Ranking 3 Miami Heat trade deadline targets from no-brainer to potential disaster

3. Potential disaster: D’Angelo Russell

The Lakers are widely expected to make changes before the trade deadline and D’Angelo Russell is at the center of most of the buzz.

The Lakers and Hawks have reportedly had conversations about sending Dejounte Murray to Los Angeles, but the Hawks would want to find a third team to take on Russell in that scenario.

The Heat should not be that team. Yes, the Heat are looking for ways to spark the offense, and Russell is averaging 24 points over his last 13 games, but trading for Russell would be shortsighted.

Russell is a streaky shooter capable of scoring 30 points any given night and a solid pick-and-roll ball-handler, but his effort on defense can most generously be described as “occasional” and he struggles to make his teammates better.

If the Heat are dealing with redundancy issues with Terry Rozier and Tyler Herro, Russell won’t help.

Rather, if the Heat want to help themselves, they’d be better off finding players who don’t need the ball in their hands to make an impact, can space the floor around their stars and help stabilize the defense in time for a playoff push.