South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Winslow leaves evaluation of Heat trade on hold a year later
It has been a year since the Miami Heat traded away Justise Winslow’s future on Feb. 6, 2020 in exchange for half a season of Jae Crowder and this likely swan-song season for Andre Iguodala.
It has been even longer since Winslow played in an NBA game.
This past week, in his first Memphis Grizzlies media availability since the summer, Winslow addressed his waiting game, what might come next, and why, despite speculation, there is no bad blood with the Heat and the Heat’s medical staff.
The most recent game action for Winslow remains a 16-minute stint on Jan. 8, 2020 in a Heat road victory over the Indiana Pacers. He then missed the remainder of his Heat tenure with what was listed as a lowerback bone bruise.
The recovery from that injury then kept him out for the Grizzlies until the NBA regrouped in the Disney World quarantine bubble in July. That’s where, during a practice session, he suffered the hip injury that still has him out.
“It was kind of an awkward play,” he said during a Zoom interview. “I just was off balance, got pushed off my dribble, and went to plant. And next thing I know, I was getting an MRI. It wasn’t the most physical play.”
The formal designation was a left hip displacement.
The No. 10 pick in the 2015 NBA draft by the Heat had been set to return for the Grizzlies last March, with the NBA’s pandemic shutdown scuttling those plans.
Now there is light at the end of the injury tunnel.
“The recovery’s been going well,” he said. “It’s been a long process for me, even since getting traded here, almost a year ago now — battling injuries, being back healthy and then going through the bubble again. But I’m feeling great. My hip feels great.
“I’m really close to getting back on the court, hopefully sometime this month. I really don’t have an exact day in mind. Just with COVID and how our team’s had to miss almost two weeks or a week of practice and that sort of thing, that set me back, just without being able to have proper access to workouts and things like that.”
The hip injury forced Winslow to miss an exhibition against the Heat at Disney over the summer. Both of the Heat’s games against the Grizzlies this season will be played over the second half of the schedule, leaving open the possibility of court time against his former team.
Ahead of such a possible meeting, Winslow was asked if there were any misconceptions about his injury or recovery he would like to address.
“I mean one thing would just be that I’m super thankful for my time in Miami,” he said. “And we didn’t always see eye to eye on everything during my time there. But I know that those guys had my best interest in mind. That’s really the only thing that I could think about, as far as my injury.
“I don’t know what the talk was out there between myself and Miami. But I’m thankful for everything they did for me in my career.”
He said his time, even without getting on the court, has been positive with Grizzlies General Manager Zach Kleiman and with Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins.
For now, like at the end of his Heat tenure, he has been limited to functioning as support system, yet to be able to show what the Heat allowed to get away.
“Watching the games have been bittersweet for me,” he said. “I want to be out there. I want to be competing. But once I kind of get past the emotional part of not being able to go out there and physically be in the game, it’s like, ‘What other ways can I help?’
“And we’ve got a super-young team here. We got a lot of guys with little NBA experience. But they’re revving up those games and that experience as it goes. And I’m someone I feel like my wisdom and my experience in this league can be something that I can pass along to anybody on this team. Likewise, anyone on this team can pass away wisdom back to me.”
For the Heat, the ultimate grade on the Winslow trade likely will not be determined for years to come, even with Crowder and Iguodala having fueled last season’s run to within two victories of an NBA title.
Not turning 25 until March
26, Winslow has a team option for next season at $13 million, the final year of the three-year deal he signed with the Heat as a rookie extension. Instead, the Heat hold a $15 million option for next season on Andre Iguodala, one they are expected to bypass.
Winslow will play on long after Crowder, Iguodala and Solomon Hill (the other player acquired in the Memphis trade) become Heat memories. It is those seasons that will determine on which side of the trade ledger the Heat land.