They have little salary cap space and no draft assets, so they have to give up a key piece for any chance of restructuring the roster. That means losing a combination of Tyler Herro, Terry Rozier, Duncan Robinson, Jamie Jaquez Jr., and Nikola Jovic must happen.
The latest speculation in the drying pool of free agents is Chicago Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan. There have been various reports of mutual interest between the sides.have popped up as a potentially interested party, but it's worth noting that they are already around $7 million above the first apron," wrote
But does this make any sense? Does moving Herro or Rozier make the Heat better? Does an aging duo of DeRozan and Jimmy Butler compete for a title? "Acquiring a signed-and-traded player hard caps you at the first apron, so the Heat wouldn't just have to trade out however much salary they planned to pay DeRozan, but add another $7 million or so on top of that ," Quinn continued. "For this to be feasible, you'd basically have to give up either Tyler Herro or Terry Rozier.
While Heat team president Pat Riley is taking criticism, there really isn't much he can do at this point. The Heat are maybe better off seeing if running it back with a healthy roster makes a difference. If not, they can start breaking from this core next summer when Butler becomes a free agent.Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament.