Jazz rejects initial Heat trade offers for All-Star Mitchell
Heat nuggets on a Wednesday: If Utah guard ● Donovan Mitchell ultimately ends up playing for the Heat, it could take months — or even longer — for the situation to play out.
The Heat continues to monitor the situation with Mitchell, the high-scoring All-Star guard. Though he has not requested a trade, ESPN reported Tuesday that rival teams say the Jazz is now showing a willingness to listen on scenarios involving Mitchell. The Heat has long admired Mitchell’s game.
The Salt Lake Tribune reported over the weekend that the Heat made an offer for Mitchell a couple of weeks ago, but the Jazz found it “insufficient.”
Any package for Mitchell almost assuredly would need to include Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson, plus at least two future first-round picks. Another small piece, even a minimum deal such as
Haywood Highsmith’s, likely would need to be included to facilitate a two-team Heat/Jazz Mitchell deal from a salary cap standpoint.
The Heat has long held Mitchell in high regard, and he will remain a possibility for Miami well into next season if he isn’t moved before then.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst framed the situation creatively, saying the Mitchell/Jazz union isn’t a happy marriage, but for now, they’re staying together “for the sake of the kids.” Windhorst said
NBA executives believe Mitchell will be made available in trade talks “at some point.”
Asked if Mitchell is untouchable, Jazz general manager Justin Zanik told reporters over the weekend that “Change is inevitable in the NBA. I’m not trying to be cryptic or anything else.
“Donovan is on our roster and he’s a very, very important part of what we’re trying to do. Things evolve in the NBA, so I couldn’t sit here and say anybody is [untouchable]. We’re trying to build a championship team. But there’s no intent there [to trade him].”
Mitchell, 25, has been an All-Star the past three seasons. He averaged 25.9 points per game this season and 23.9 in his fiveyear career.
He has three years remaining on his contract, plus a fourth-year player option. He’s due to make $30.3 million next season.
Look for the Heat to make another attempt to find a Caleb Martin-type young veteran to take one of its two-way contracts. Miami will be eyeing players with some NBA experience who fall through the cracks in August or September and become receptive to a two-way deal, which would permit a maximum of 50 NBA game appearances next season. A power forward would be preferable.
That player would be well positioned to be with the team for those maximum 50 games, because of the limited depth at power forward.
There have been no discussions between Bam Adebayo and the Heat about a Kevin Durant trade; the sense is that Miami prefers not to deal him.
Brooklyn would need to trade Ben Simmons if Adebayo were dealt to Brooklyn. Adebayo has not sought assurances from the Heat about whether he would be traded in any Durant deal.
According to SNY-TV
NBA reporter Ian Begley, “people with connection to the Heat have been in Durant’s ear heavily in the days after the trade request.”
According to a league source briefed on the matter, initial talks between the Heat and Brooklyn were “hot and heavy,” but then cooled when Brooklyn wasn’t satisfied with Miami’s potential package. But the Heat continues its pursuit.
We’re told another team was prepared to sign Martin to an offer sheet exceeding the value of the three-year, $20 million deal he received from the Heat. That looming offer sheet motivated the Heat to move quickly with Martin and re-sign him last Wednesday. Miami always wanted to keep Martin — and Martin wanted to stay with the Heat — but Miami was slow-playing it initially because its focus was on a pursuit of Durant, which continues.
Assessing which of the remaining free agents can help the Heat is fruitless, because if Udonis Haslem re-signs, which the Heat expects, there is simply no room to add another player and avoid the luxury tax until next spring.
So don’t waste time mulling the merits of pursuing Montrezl Harrell or Carmelo Anthony or DeMarcus Cousins — unless Miami were to release Highsmith, which seems unlikely after a strong summer league performance so far.
While it seemed perplexing that the Heat didn’t match the minimum offer that T.J. Warren signed with Brooklyn, doing so would have put the Heat into tax territory, assuming Haslem re-signs.
Miami would go into the tax if it can acquire Durant or Mitchell or another star.
Otherwise, the Heat would prefer not to leave itself at risk of triggering the particularly onerous repeater tax, which is imposed if a team surpasses the tax line three times in four years.
Miami will be more at risk of being a tax team in 2023-24, with Herro’s likely lucrative extension kicking in that season and Gabe Vincent and Max Strus set to become free agents next offseason.
Ten teams are over the tax line at the moment, topped by the Clippers, who are $42 million over.
Incidentally, there would have been space for another player — including an offer to Warren — if the Heat had signed Dwayne Dedmon to a minimum deal instead of giving him $4.7 million for this coming season with a nonguaranteed team option of $4.3 million for 2023-24.
But the Heat valued Dedmon at more than the minimum, believing it needed a battle-tested big to back up Adebayo.
CHATTER
Mike Garafolo’s NFL Network report Friday that the Dolphins and Mike Gesicki haven’t engaged in talks for a long-term contract aren’t surprising; the Dolphins haven’t shown much interest in that, at least to this point. The deadline for players with franchise tags to sign long-term deals with their current teams is Friday. Gesicki is set to make $10.9 million on his franchise tag this season, and unless the Dolphins suddenly change course, they appear interested in seeing how Gesicki fits into coach Mike McDaniel’s offense before committing big long-term money.
The Marlins sent former first round pick Khalil Watson back home to North Carolina temporarily after he gestured his bat toward an umpire after disagreeing with a called third strike.