The Heat are reportedly on James Harden‘s short-list of teams he’s interested in and Miami is expected to explore the possibility of trading for the former MVP, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports.
Harden, who is expected to join the Rockets at training camp as soon as Monday, is making $41.3 million and Miami is essentially hard-capped, which creates another obstacle in potentially acquiring the scoring champion.
Any trade would surely include Andre Iguodala ($15.0 million) and Kelly Olynyk ($12.6 million). Goran Dragic might seem likely to a candidate to be included given his $18 million figure (on his newly signed contract) for 2020-21, though he couldn’t be traded until February 6 and he has the right to veto any trade given his deal his a one-year pact with an option.
Meyers Leonard and Udonis Haslem also both carry the right to veto a trade this season. The pair of powers forwards, like Dragic and fellow offseason signings Avery Bradley and Maurice Harkless, are unable to be traded until that first week in February, which means the franchise doesn’t have many options to send to Houston.
Would Tyler Herro and either Duncan Robinson, Kendrick Nunn, or both, along with Iggy and Olynyk be enough to satisfy the Rockets? Miami has restrictions surrounding its 2023 pick and they have the option to reach an agreement with OKC on it (as in allow the Thunder to have the pick without restrictions).
Should that happen, then the Heat can deal their 2025 and 2027 first-rounders. Even so, it doesn’t seem like Miami has enough to compete with other offers in the Harden-sweepstakes.
