South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
NBA trade deadline was money for nothing
It could be argued that on the quietest of NBA trade deadlines for the Miami Heat that they actually pushed all of their chips to the middle of the table.
It also came to be realized that those chips, at least at the moment, have no value.
The Heat in recent years have re-signed or signed players to deals that often include a degree of future thought when it comes to the ability to utilize such salaries down the road as trade chips.
The team, for example, brought Goran Dragic back on a two-year contract in November 2020, coming off a significant foot injury in that season’s NBA Finals, seemingly with the perspective of having that second season as a potential cap filler in a trade. That proved to be the case, with Dragic’s 2021-22 salary facilitating the sign-and-trade deal for Kyle Lowry (more on him later).
The Heat also re-signed Meyers Leonard on a similar deal in the 2020 offseason also with an eye on a potential trade. Four months later, that contract was put into play for the acquisition of Trevor Ariza.
The approach however crashed and burned this season with Dewayne Dedmon, because Dedmon crashed and burned, his output plummeting to the degree that the Heat had to pay the San Antonio Spurs a second-round pick just to get Dedmon’s $4.7 million for this season off their payroll.
Now the only way for the Heat to salvage anything from the 2022 Dedmon freeagency experience would be to find a pair of buyout options who become playoff-race contributors after slotting into Dedmon’s vacated cap space.
Which brings us back to Lowry, as well as to Duncan Robinson.
When it came to salaries as trade assets, Lowry and Robinson proved to be net negatives at the deadline.
With Lowry, the expectation never was to have to dangle his deal, brought in instead to spearhead a move toward greater contention. Then his play cratered.
So now the Heat will be left to see if the final year on his three-year, $85 million contract can be utilized in the offseason or at next year’s trade deadline as a salary-cap chip.
And even then, expiring contracts do not get you what they once did, with Kevin Love’s $28.9 million final season simply to expire without a trade, despite having been shuffled out of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ rotation. Like the Heat, the Cavaliers did not make an acquisition at the deadline.
At this stage, Lowry is more of an accounting element than a contention contributor, as he works through knee
pain. That yet could change, but this more and more is feeling like the final Heat days of Tim Hardaway.
Had the Heat not extended Tyler Herro on the eve of the season, a Lowry-Herro package potentially could have hit a sweet spot at the deadline, with Herro only on the books this season at $5.7 million.
But once Herro was extended, he basically could not be dealt until July 1.
Of course, come July 1, Lowry’s $29 million for 2023-24 and Herro’s $27 million for next season would put the Heat in position to match even the highest of NBA salaries.
As for Robinson, the thought all along was the mid-tier salaries in his five-year, $90 million deal could hit a sweet spot in potential deals.
Then he stopped making shots.
So the next question for the Heat becomes can they afford to hold onto the Robinson deal if they plan to retain Max Strus in free agency. That would be a significant outlay for one to play and one to sit. (Strus is on a minimum deal at the moment.)
The Dedmon deal ultimately became weighty ballast, as Dedmon bottomed out.
The Lowry money might still be salvaged as a plus-one expiring salary in an eventual mega deal come July or beyond.
The Robinson contract, with three additional seasons to play out, yet could factor in a tangible trade, as was the case with the final seasons of the Dion Waiters and James Johnson contracts.
But the immediate lesson at the deadline was it takes more than a contract or a salary to close a deal.
It takes something of substance. Something not the case in 2022-23 for the Heat with Dedmon, Lowry and Robinson.
IN THE LANE
LOSING ARGUMENT: Even while stuck in neutral though the process, an argument could be made about a net gain for the Heat in the Eastern Conference at the NBA trading deadline. At the top of the East, let’s not overstate the Boston Celtics’ acquisition of Mike Muscala. It could be argued that if Muscala is in the playoff rotation then all is not right with either Robert Williams or Al Horford. Think of it more as insurance. And while Jae Crowder certainly makes any contender stronger, if he plays for the Milwaukee Bucks, then it means either Brook Lopez or Bobby Portis isn’t. Again, insurance. As for the Philadelphia 76ers, mostly a push in sending out Matisse Thybulle and bringing in Jalen McDaniels. Then there are the Cleveland Cavaliers, who did not make a move. But where the equation changes is the Brooklyn Nets’ selloff of Kevin Durant. If the Heat can’t make a move on the current Nets’ roster, then Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro aren’t who we think they are. The Heat play Wednesday in Brooklyn.
NEW MATH: The perspective stressed by the Heat is that avoiding the luxury tax this season prevents the clock from starting on the onerous repeater tax in future seasons. And with the Heat almost assuredly to be in the tax next season when Herro’s extension kicks in, there is something to be said about that caution. But there also is the payoff factor, and that led to new math in the wake of the trade deadline. At the start of last week, each non-tax team was projected to receive about $17 million from the tax pool. But with several teams shedding salary and with the 76ers moving under the tax with their transaction, the payoff figure dropped to about $13.6 million. That still puts it over last season’s $10.5 million payout.
WAITING GAME: With the Heat not making an acquisition at the trading deadline either this season or last season, and with last summer’s only moves the retention of players from the previous season’s roster, such as Dedmon, Victor Oladipo, Caleb Martin and Udonis Haslem, it means the Heat have not acquired a veteran on a standard contract since signing P.J. Tucker on Aug. 7, 2021 (Martin came in on Sept, 14, 2021, on a two-way contract). Otherwise, it has been the likes of Javonte Smart, Dru Smith, Micah Potter, Haywood Highsmith,
Zylan Cheatham, Kyle Guy, Aric
Holman, Chris Silva, Mario Chalmers, Nik Stauskas (those latter six on emergency COVID 10-day contracts), Mychal Mulder, Orlando Robinson, Jamaree Bouyea, Jamal Cain and Darius Days.
APPROVING EYES: Yes, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was among those who watched former Heat forward LeBron James pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the NBA all-time scoring lead. “I rarely stay up for those late games, but that was must-see TV,” Spoelstra said. “That’s so historic for him to be able to do that, and also for Kareem to be in the building. That’s one of those amazing NBA moments.” Spoelstra said it wasn’t a case of not seeing the accomplishment coming. “LeBron,” he said. “just continues to deliver on everything that was anticipated or maybe expected out of an 18-year-old that also is impossible to project forward. He’s basically been doing everything that was projected of him since he was in eighth grade, really.”
NUMBER
3. Teams that did not add at least one player at the NBA trading deadline, with the Heat joined by the Chicago Bulls and Cavaliers.