South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Will Summer of FOMO get best of Heat?
For the Miami Heat, the Summer of FOMO continues.
And when Kevin Durant and Donovan Mitchell are the potential prizes, the fear of missing out is understandable.
But at some point, it also becomes a matter of getting your house in order.
Yes, the Heat have it out there that they are content to move forward with a team that lost only 37-year-old P.J. Tucker from a roster that stood within one victory of the NBA Finals.
But there also likely are potential deals to be made if not for the FOMO factor.
The Indiana Pacers have made it eminently clear they are open for the business of change, with Myles Turner one of the few remaining pieces from the team’s previous incarnation.
The Atlanta Hawks have moved to even more of a backcourt-driving approach, perhaps to the consternation of John Collins.
The Sacramento Kings reshuffle could leave Harrison Barnes shuffled out.
The Charlotte Hornets might be poised to move on from the sometimes-available reality of Gordon Hayward.
And Jae Crowder has utilized social media in a way that certainly does not rule out relocation.
Against those backdrops stand the Heat with their three abundantly obvious trade mechanisms: The $16.9 million 2022-23 salary of Duncan Robinson, the ballast needed to balance trades under the salary-cap.
The potential of Tyler Herro, a trade component that could entice suitors, but one on a ticking clock, with an extension agreement with the 2022 NBA Sixth Man of the Year this offseason effectively removing him from the trade market.
First-round picks. With the Heat currently able to deal two, potentially able to unlock a third, and capable of offering a fourth in the person of No. 27 2022
first-round pick Nikola Jovic, who now is trade eligible one month after signing his rookie-scale contract.
All three of those potential components likely would be necessary in a package for Kevin Durant (and perhaps even more).
The three certainly could come into play for a possible deal for Mitchell.
But permutations involving two of the aforementioned elements might suffice in something less shiny, but something that still could provide a sturdy upgrade.
As for the trade elements: Robinson already has been replaced by the move to Max Strus in the starting lineup; Herro, at least in the short term, can be replaced by Victor Oladipo in the wing rotation should he be dealt for a big man; and the last time Pat Riley stood with fingers clenched to a first-round pick was when?
But much like Riley’s “one suit, one shirt, one tie” edict when the Heat traveled to Dallas for two potential closeout games of the 2006 NBA Finals against the Mavericks, there likely is one move of substance potentially still left for the Heat this offseason.
Thus, the FOMO.
Move now for an element that fills out the starting lineup at power forward, and trades of Durant and Michell elsewhere could produce a what-if hangover.
Of course, Durant and Mitchell might not be going anywhere. It’s not as if Sean Marks has said Durant has played his last game in Brooklyn, or Danny Ainge has said the same of Mitchell in Utah.
Crowder, in the final year of his contract, certainly could be an efficient one-year
stopgap, similar to what Tucker ultimately proved to be.
Collins would provide the type of offensive spark missing in recent years at power forward for Erik Spoelstra, certainly more potential in that regard than going with Caleb Martin as the starting four.
Turner, even with his inconsistency, might stand as the perfect power balance to Bam Adebayo, with his 3-point stretchability
and deterrence component.
As for Haywood or Barnes, it at least would address the void created by Tucker’s free-agency departure to the Philadelphia 76ers.
But make any of those moves, and no follow-up avenue for Durant or Mitchell.
No, nothing has to be done at the moment, in August.
And the Heat have shown with their
every-game-matters approach that victories still can be stacked at the start of the season with mix-and-match lineups, even with a question mark at power forward.
But continuity also matters. And at some point, you have to get to who you are, what you are, and what you can be.
Or you play the waiting game.
Even if it means the Summer of FOMO turns into the Autumn of FOMO.