Report: Harden adds Heat to list of trade destinations All-Star guard would accept
Houston Rockets All-NBA guard James Harden is seeking a trade to a team that he considers a championship contender.
All-NBA guard James Harden, who has asked the Houston Rockets to trade him, has added the Heat to his list of preferred destinations, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
Brooklyn and Philadelphia are reportedly Harden’s preferred landing spots, but he has conveyed that Miami and Milwaukee also would appeal to him, per Charania.
The Heat is expected to at least explore the matter.
Harden, the 2018 NBA MVP and eight-time AllStar, averaged 34.3 points last season, the third consecutive season he led the NBA in scoring.
Harden, 31, also averaged 7.5 assists and 6.6 rebounds while shooting 44.4 percent from the floor and 35.5 percent on three-pointers. But Harden has never made an
NBA Finals in Houston and reportedly wants to play for a team that he considers a championship contender.
ESPN’s Rachel Nichols on Thursday afternoon told Jimmy Butler that she noticed he “liked” a social media post from Bleacher Report noting that Harden added the Heat to his list of preferred destinations and asked why he did that.
“I like his hairstyle, little dreads, some braids, beard looks well nourished,” Butler said. “I like the post.”
What does Butler think of the fact Harden might want to come to play for the Heat?
“There’s a lot of stuff always in the media,” Butler told Nichols. “He’s a hell of player. I like the group we have. I just want the guy to be happy. That’s what life is about, what the game is about. So what? I like the post. I like James. He’s a friend of mine. I just want him to be happy.”
A few things to keep in mind on any potential deal involving the Heat:
Because the Heat is
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over the salary cap and has used its full $9.3 million midlevel exception, Miami cannot exceed the $138.9 million tax apron this season. So Miami is essentially operating under a hard cap.
Even beyond that, the fact that Miami is over the cap means the Heat needs to send out salary not far below the $41.2 million that Harden is due this season.
Miami, whose payroll stands at $124.4 million, can take back 125 percent of salaries it sends out, plus $100,000.
But if Miami trades, say, five players for Harden, the Heat would need to fill out the last few roster spots with minimum contracts — and a $3.6 million biannual exception — while staying under the tax apron.
Harden is due $44.3 million in 2021-22 and has a $47.4 million player option in 2022-23.
To facilitate a trade
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from a cap standpoint, Miami assuredly would need to include Andre Iguodala ($15 million) and Kelly Olynyk ($12.6 million).
Goran Dragic, Meyers
Leonard and Udonis Haslem not only have the right to veto a trade this season, but they couldn’t be traded until Feb. 6 anyway, per ESPN front office insider Bobby Marks’ report on NBA rules on the timetable of trades for players who signed as free agents in recent weeks.
Avery Bradley and Maurice Harkless also cannot be traded until Feb. 6, per NBA rules on the timetable of trades for players who signed as free agents.
Miami obviously isn’t trading Butler or Bam Adebayo.
So that leaves Iguodala and Olynyk as the only big salaries that realistically can be used to facilitate a Heat trade for Harden.
The bigger question is whether the Heat has enough assets that appeal to Houston.
Tyler Herro assuredly would need to be included. So would either Duncan Robinson or Kendrick
Nunn — both of whom will be restricted free agents next summer.
Teams typically cannot trade rookie first-round picks until 30 days after signing. But Marks said that schedule has been condensed this season, meaning Heat rookie forward Precious Achiuwa can already be included in a trade.
Houston also covets draft picks, and that’s an area where the Heat is limited.
Miami cannot trade any future first-round picks unless it reaches an agreement with Oklahoma City to unlock protections on the 2023 Heat first-rounder that is due to OKC, which also owns Miami’s 2021 first-rounder.
That 2023 pick is lottery protected, meaning if Miami misses the playoffs in 2022-23, the Heat would keep its 2023 first-rounder and the pick wouldn’t be conveyed to OKC until 2024, at the earliest.
But if the Heat agrees to eliminate that protection — and promise to give OKC its 2023 first-rounder wherever it falls in the draft — and if OKC is agreeable (there’s no reason it wouldn’t be), Miami then could trade its 2025 and 2027 first-rounders to Houston.
Teams cannot trade first-round picks more than seven years out.
So the best possible
Heat offer would be Herro; Robinson or Nunn (whichever Houston prefers, with Robinson viewed as the more attractive trade asset at this point); Achiuwa; first-round picks in 2025 and 2027 (if OKC unlocks the 2023 pick) and Olynyk and Iguodala as cap facilitators. That would satisfy cap requirements.
Either KZ Okpala or Chris Silva — each earning $1.5 million — could be thrown in, but that wouldn’t be necessary from a cap standpoint in this hypothetical trade.
Another option would be including both Robinson and Nunn but not Achiuwa, but whether Houston would be agreeable to that is questionable.
It seems questionable that Houston would accept Robinson, Nunn and Achiuwa but no Herro.
That “best possible” hypothetical Heat offer would leave Miami with a roster of Butler, Adebayo, Harden, Dragic, Leonard, Bradley, Harkless and either Robinson or Nunn — whichever player isn’t included in the hypothetical Harden package — plus Haslem, Okpala and Silva. That’s 10 players.
Miami could fill out a roster by signing one player to a $3.6 million biannual exception and four to minimum deals or sign five players to minimum deals.
The best remaining available veteran free agents include Taj Gibson, Isaiah Thomas, Shabazz Napier, Brandon Knight, Andre Roberson, Ersan Ilyasova, Thon Maker and Emmanuel Mudiay.
According to the Athletic’s Charania, “the Rockets don’t have an urgency to move Harden and the franchise expects a mammoth package for the sixtime All-NBA first team performer: along the lines of a young star and tremendous draft assets. He has told the Rockets that he wants to be traded to compete for a title elsewhere, and has been resigned to the belief that he can no longer compete for a championship in Houston, sources say.
Even still, Houston has made it clear they want to continue competing with Harden.
Sources said the Rockets have no interest in a Nets offer, unless it would include either Kevin Durant or Kyrie Irving.”
Harden must pass six COVID tests over six days before joining Houston’s training camp workouts later this week. Per Charania, “sources close to the team and Harden expect the former league MVP to remain professional” as he seeks a trade.
If the Heat acquired Harden, that would make Miami a highly unlikely destination for Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, a potential 2021 free agent that Miami has coveted.
The Heat also is interested in a trade for Washington’s Bradley Beal if the Wizards make him available, though a Beal pursuit would be unlikely if Harden is acquired by Miami — unless Miami then flips one star shooting guard for the other.