The Miami Heat, who don’t have the treasure trove of picks to compete with a potential Knicks offer, have reportedly shifted their focus away from a Donovan Mitchell trade.
The Heat are focused on a Kevin Durant trade, but those talks have stalled out because the Nets are lukewarm on a Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson based trade offer, league sources have told NBC Sports. What would rekindle those talks would be to put in the player the Nets most want from the Heat: Center Bam Adebayo.
The Heat aren’t going there. At least not yet, report Anthony Chiang and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
Though the Nets would have interest in Bam Adebayo in a Durant trade, the Heat has not included Adebayo in offers for Durant and appears disinclined to do so. It should be noted that Adebayo is not currently eligible to be included in a trade with the Nets because of NBA salary cap rules, unless the Nets trade Ben Simmons to the Heat or another team. That’s because of the Designated Rookie Extension rule: A team cannot have two players acquired via trade who were signed to that type of extension such as Adebayo and Simmons.
Trading 25-year-old Adebayo for 34-year-old Durant should be a non-starter for Miami.
The goal of trading for Durant is to put him on a roster that can contend for a title. Remove Adebayo from Miami and, even with Durant and Jimmy Butler surrounded by Herro/Robinson/Kyle Lowry and others, this team is not a favorite to beat Boston or Milwaukee. But add Butler and Durant to a roster with Adebayo — one of the league’s top defenders plus a guy who can be the hub of the offense as a point-center for a stretch — and the Heat are title favorites.
Durant and Adebayo were teammates who won gold together in the Tokyo Olympics.
Durant trade talks have stalled out, not just with Miami but also with Toronto, Boston, Phoenix and the other teams in the mix. The bidding war the Nets hoped would materialize never did, leaving Brooklyn saying it will go into training camp with Durant on the roster rather than take a lesser offer. However, that would be a circus the Nets would much rather avoid.
Expect the Durant trade talks to pick up again as we get closer to training camps in September. But don’t expect Adebayo to be part of the talks.
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Report: Heat remain “disinclined” to include Bam Adebayo in Durant trade originally appeared on NBCSports.com