The Miami Heat are having a franchise-changing offseason. After acquiring Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo in a trade this offseason, the Miami Heat roster has completely changed. The team dealt Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kasparas Jakucionis as part of the deal and also lost All-Star Norman Powell to the Chicago Bulls in free agency. Now, the Heat must continue to navigate the rest of this offseason with some financial restrictions as they attempt to build the roster around Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo. Earlier this offseason, the team signed wing Tim Hardaway Jr. to a one-year deal and brought back Simone Fontecchio, but there are more moves to be made. With the extension of Andrew Wiggins earlier this offseason, the Heat opened up a little bit of money by shaving $9 million off his player option for the upcoming season as well.
One player who has reportedly been put on the trading block is veteran wing Klay Thompson of the Dallas Mavericks, and the Heat apparently have some level of interest in adding the four-time NBA champion. The main priority for the Heat after adding Antetokounmpo was their attempt to lure LeBron James back to the franchise. However, that pursuit ended last month when the 41-year-old signed a two-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Bringing in Thompson to this unit would no-doubt be a strong addition, but there are only two ways for the Heat to acquire him. The first and least likely way would be through free agency, meaning Thompson would have to negotiate a buy-out agreement with the Mavericks and be able to join Miami on a much cheaper salary than he is currently making through unrestricted free agency. The other possibility is by trading Nikola Jovic.
Jovic, the team's first-round pick from 2022, signed a four-year rookie contract extension worth $62.4 million prior to last season. Pat Riley really liked what he had to offer for the foreseeable future. However, it seems the team is already regretting that contract decision, as Jovic was basically a non-factor down the stretch of the regular season, only appearing in eight games post-January.
While Jovic has been rather disappointing with his performance on the court, he is still quite young at only 23 years old. Erik Spoelstra has done a great job over the years when it comes to developing young talent, and while Jovic has yet to fully display the ability to perform well on the court, there is still plenty of potential, and Spoelstra is one of the few coaches in the NBA to trust to unlock it.
The Heat absolutely need to bring in another player to this new-look unit, as it currently lacks depth. There is one guy available in free agency who could be a strong option to add without having to give up any compensation: DeMar DeRozan. Adding DeRozan and keeping Jovic is a much stronger option than adding one year of Thompson and having to part with a young player who could still improve and be an important part of the team's future.
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