The Heat, who are reportedly considered the frontrunners to land Kyle Lowry in free agency, may also be eyeing another longtime Raptors guard.
Multiple reporters and outlets, including Marc Stein, Five Reasons Sports, and The Miami Herald (all four Twitter links), have suggested that the Heat are exploring ways to add free agent guard DeMar DeRozan. Miami has pursued DeRozan multiple times over the years, even inquiring on him earlier this season, and the veteran holds the Heat in high regard, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.
However, landing DeRozan won’t be easy, since Miami has no clear pathway to acquiring both Lowry and DeRozan via sign-and-trade.
There has been some speculation about the possibility of DeRozan taking a discount to play for the Lakers or Clippers — if he’s open to that idea, it would open the door for the Heat to make a similar path. However, Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report said on The Alex Kennedy Podcast that he’s not sure DeRozan – who earned $27MM this past season – would be willing to settle for the mid-level.
Here’s more on the Heat:
- The Heat tried to acquire Kelly Oubre at this year’s trade deadline and figure to be interested in him again as a free agent, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. However, Jackson views it as an unlikely match, since Oubre will likely want more than mid-level money.
- Jackson also names Rudy Gay as a free agent forward who will receive interest from the Heat this week (Twitter link). Miami may look to re-sign Trevor Ariza too, Jackson adds.
- There’s optimism that the Heat and Jimmy Butler will be able to reach an agreement on a contract extension this offseason, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Butler’s maximum extension would be a four-year deal worth up to a projected $181MM.
June rumors
Knicks, Heat and Mavs are interested in Oubre
Interest level 1 out of 10 scale
Overpay him if you are really interested
Kelly Oubre should join the Rockets!
I’d come to this site every hour waiting for the reaction.
Where he would get about $3M/year and play around 15 minutes a game.
That’s about right.
Of all those names, DeRozan and Oubre dont make much sense, but all the others are on my list.
If they’re losing Dragic and Iguodala, and getting Lowry, and obviously keeping Duncan Robinson, they need 2 3 and D wings, a 4 with size that can knock down shots, and a big that can space the floor, and probably a depth backup PG
So maybe sign and trade Nunn for 1 or 2 of those pieces, if possible, and if not, keep Ariza, and then somehow use the mid level and bi-annual exceptions, plus minimum deals on whoever you can get of Paul Milsap, Josh Hart, Tony Snell, Torrey Craig, Josh Richardson, Sterling Brown, Rudy Gay, Justise Winslow, JaMychal Green, James Johnson, Solomon Hill, Frank Ntilikina, Shaq Harrison, Lonzo Ball, Isaac Bonga, Kelly Olynyk, Noah Vonleh, Bobby Portis, Harry Giles, Thon Maker, Frank Kaminsky, Moe Wagner, Dwight Howard, Jeremiah Martin, Kris Dunn
A couple of those guys are likely not gettable, unless they’re renounced by their own teams, and not sure if a couple of them picked up their options, but the rest should be theoretically doable in some combination, and I could see 1 or 2 of the undrafted guys they brought in potentially filling 1 of those spots
…didnt notice I forgot to take Ball out. Obviously, if they’re getting Lowry, that’s not neccessary or possible
Gay is a good player to add for Heat. Lowry is coming to Miami. Too much smoke.
DeRozan to Knicks got my attention. FO has discussed him so the story goes. Powell, Fournier all three are a good fit. Thibs likes Powell, DeRozan, Fournier in that order. Is what I think. But Fourniers shooting is what we really need on that starting 5. It will space the floor for RJ and Randle. And give Mitch more opportunity for offensive reb.
DeRozan’s value seems to be a crapshoot right now. Given how he’s played the last 2 seasons, however, I would think he’s want to cash in on one last contract, if possible, as opposed to settling for the MLE
Both Dallas and NY have the space and a desperate need for a secondary creator.
NO has the space, not sure if they’re a great fit (probably not), but if they strike out on Lowry I could see Griffin making a desperation offer.
Atlanta might have made some sense if they didn’t have Bogdanovic now
If the Heat can talk DeRozan into the MLE… do it 110 times out of 10… If they can get Oladipo to take the vet minimum to rehab and make a comeback in the second half of the season… the Heat will once again have the deepest team in the NBA. Will it be a title team? We’d have to see.. but having 5-6 guys on the roster capable of putting up 15-25ppg with relative ease is not something many teams have ever been able to say.