Heat expected to go star hunting this offseason

The Heat exceeded all expectations this spring by making the NBA Finals as a No. 8 seed, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be satisfied to run it back with the same roster for 2023-24.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Brian Windhorst of ESPN, Miami is expected to explore the trade market in search of a star player this summer.

As Windhorst points out, it makes sense for the Heat to be aggressive as they seek roster upgrades this offseason for a few reasons. For one, Jimmy Butler will turn 34 years old in September and presumably has a limited number of prime years left, while Bam Adebayo – 26 in July – is entering his own prime.

Additionally, the Heat’s roster is getting more expensive, meaning the front office will likely be subject to more restrictive trade rules beginning in 2024-25, when the changes in the new collective bargaining agreement for tax-paying teams will be fully implemented. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald explores those new rules in more detail, noting that – while some changes will begin to take effect in 2023-24 – the Heat would have more flexibility to make a blockbuster deal in the coming months than in future league years.

While Kyle Lowry ($29.7M in 2023-24) and Duncan Robinson ($18.2M) are Miami’s most obvious salary-matching pieces, Windhorst notes that Tyler Herro ($27M) will be starting his rookie scale extension in ’23-24 and could make a more intriguing trade chip than Lowry or Robinson. Caleb Martin has also evolved into a player “a lot of teams have interest in,” Windhorst adds.

Of course, if they want to acquire a star, the Heat will almost certainly need to include multiple draft assets in any offer. They owe a lottery-protected 2025 first-round pick to Oklahoma City, which complicates, to some extent, their ability to move additional first-rounders. Still, they could include up to three first-round selections – including this year’s No. 18 pick – in a trade offer this summer.

While there’s no consensus yet on which players the Heat might target, Charania hears that the club made a trade offer to Brooklyn for Kyrie Irving in February and wonders if Miami might circle back on Irving as he reaches free agency.

That seems like a long shot though, since the Heat aren’t in position to acquire a player via sign-and-trade due to the hard cap it would create. It’s also worth noting that a previous report stated that Heat management wasn’t unanimous in its belief that Irving would be a good addition.

Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard recently named the Heat as one of the teams he would want to be traded to if he ever asks out of Portland. There’s no indication that has happened or will happen anytime soon, but there has been more smoke than ever around Lillard’s situation leading up to this offseason.

As Windhorst observes, it’s also entirely possible that there will be a star who has been impressed by the Heat’s unlikely run to the Finals and decides he wants to be part of what’s going on in Miami.

“What we don’t know is what star players just watched the Heat on this two-month advertisement for Heat culture and might go to their teams in the next few weeks and say, ‘I want to be a Miami Heat,'” Windhorst said. “That has happened consistently throughout the Pat Riley era.”