The Heat have two open roster spots but they’re in a holding pattern until the Damian Lillard situation is resolved, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Without trading for Lillard, Miami is only in position to add players on veteran’s minimum deals. The Heat would have even more roster spots open by dealing multiple players for Lillard.
Winderman also notes there are plenty of free agents with former ties to the organization looking for contracts, including Kendrick Nunn, Goran Dragic, Derrick Jones Jr., Justise Winslow and Meyers Leonard.
We have more on the Heat:
- Unless they need one of them as part of a blockbuster trade for Lillard, the Heat are unlikely to use the three trade exceptions they’ve generated, Winderman writes in a mailbag piece. The exceptions of $9.5MM, $7.3MM and $4.7MM cannot be aggregated. The punitive elements of the luxury tax in the new CBA discourages using any of them to bring in more salary.
- Unlike last season, the Heat have multiple options at backup center behind Bam Adebayo, The Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang writes in his latest mailbag. It could be Kevin Love, if he doesn’t start at power forward. Otherwise, free agent signee Thomas Bryant and Orlando Robinson will battle for those minutes.
- Jamal Cain is in limbo. He’s a restricted free agent after finishing last season on a two-way deal. Miami extended him a qualifying offer before free agency and Cain is trying to improve his stock during Summer League action, he tells Chiang. “I’m just trying to do what I can here to make sure I get a contract,” he said.
Y’know, THIS is what drives longtime followers of the Association batsh!t crazy…the “dictating” of preferred destinations by upper-tier, elite NBA players: without a reasonable/possible route to accomplish it (Miami’s lack of assets to entice PDX). I asked i
f any others feel the same: 15+ agreed w/me!
I agree completely. We’ve seen James Harden ask out of three teams now in 29 months. Kyrie demands a trade, gets suspended, comes back and says he wants to stay, and then demands a trade again, all within eight months.
The Lillard move is even worse, demanding a deal to a single team. Didn’t he say that if the Blazers don’t make win now moves that wanted to be dealt to a contender? There are better situations than Miami right now as it relates to title contention, he comes off as disingenuous.
He gave 11 great years to Portland, and he deserves an opportunity to win a title. The way he’s doing it though is what makes me like the NBA less and less every year.
Agree
Lmao!! How the flying fu** is what Dame is doing worse than the 2 NBA stars you mentioned? Wow
In a reasoned moment (surely you have those on occasion) what Lillard did historically was to represent himself as never interested in, “chasing a ring”, but rather doing “it the right way.” Neither of these other two fellows ever made even remotely believable statements regarding loyalty. What Lillard is doing now is absolutely the same thing as, “the 2 NBA stars you mentioned”, and as a result he’s lowered himself to the level of Irving and Harden and your free to characterize those two any way you like.
I think we can all agree that Dame wants to win championships and he wanted to do with Portland.
Having said that, Portland has never built a championship contending team around him. And Dame reached the point where he knows Portland will never get him close to a contender. Their GM conceded as such.
I see nothing wrong in wanting out. He’s given enough IMO. If he wants to go to Boston or Lakers Or Heat wherever, he has earned the right to want out.
For many, many years the owners had the upper hand in sports, and now the inmates run the asylum. I suppose you can add the big market owners in as a beneficiary of the condition, but it’s the fan who is the odd man out in most of these situations.
Flood v. Kuhn and the pendulum swung … forever? Who’s for hollering “collusion” if Portland let’s Lillard sit out the rest of his career?
This is not about the players vs. the owners. Max players are empowered because they get paid less than their market value. Steph Curry has given the Warriors hundreds of millions in discounts because of the max. If I can’t get market value for my services, then for dang sure, I’m gonna play somewhere where I can win and/or get treated well.
Please bring back Kendrick Nunn, Derrick Jones Jr, Justise Winslow and Meyers Leonard
I don’t see how Lillard ends up in Miami at this point.
I think Cronin plainly stated that he is not encouraged by Miami’s offer of low value draft picks, and has-been, non-productive, bloated contract players.
He said it in a nice way, but I interpreted his comments as a public rejection to a sub-par Miami offer.
Pretty strange action considering we are usually not informed through the media about deals that fall through, or don’t happen. We are told only about the ones that actually occur typically.
I really don’t think it was a good move to not offer the best offer possible on the part of Miami. Low-balling is a dangerous game if you want the deal.
I sold cars once, and sometimes low-ballers won the prize of not buying a car, and getting asked to leave.
The league created the trade demand issue when it let teams give extensions that are far more valuable than what they can sign for as free agents, to help cheap/bad owners/teams keep their stars. Only, players have figured out they can still get the money and then just demand to be traded. This is just an unintended consequence of over regulation.
Doesn’t matter, if the NBA keeps bleeding viewership at its current rate it won’t even be around in a decade.