The Miami Heat have come close to achieving the fourth ring in their history by falling in the NBA Finals against the Denver Nuggets 4-1. And as the team has a lot of room for improvement. That, and recovering a key injury like Tyler Herro, manager Pat Riley has already gotten down to work to try to get another star in the next free agent market.
At the moment the names of Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving, Bradley Beal or Joel Embiid have been linked. Who would say “no” to the Florida project? To their credit they have their 17th pick from the next 2023 Draft; in addition to future first rounds, and/or salaries of secondary players that allow the possible operation to be completed.
“They have draft picks at their disposal,” said Brian Windhorst of ESPN. “And they potentially have very tradable contracts, so they’re going to go for a star. I don’t know if they will. I don’t know if it will work out for them… But there are players they are looking at, and they have the ability to do it, especially if the player says ‘send me to Miami’”, he acknowledged.
Last summer they already traded for Kevin Durant, then with the Brooklyn Nets, and also for Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers. In addition, according to what the journalist Shams Charania has been able to filter, they were negotiating very aggressively for Kyrie Irving in exchange for Tyler Herro and a commercial package around him.
“They made an offer for Irving at the deadline, right before he was traded to the Mavs,” Shams acknowledged.
(Cover photo: Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
