Miami Heat Were Winners At The Trade Deadline

Despite not keeping a player they acquired, the Miami Heat came away as winners at the 2016 NBA Trade Deadline.

The Miami Heat were active at the trade deadline this season. They made three trades within 72 hours, taking part in a three-team deal with the Memphis Grizzlies and Charlotte Hornets, then making moves with the New Orleans Pelicans and Portland Trail Blazers. Despite not having any players to show for after the three deals, as they flipped point guard Brian Roberts to the Trail Blazers after getting him from the Hornets, the Heat were big winners at the NBA Trade Deadline.

The Heat went into the trade deadline with an open mind. There were rumors that they were interested in adding some three-point shooting, and others that they were shopping Hassan Whiteside with the hopes of landing Dwight Howard. But, once it was announced that Chris Bosh had another blood clot scare, and his status for the remainder of the season being in doubt, the Heat changed their game plan up.

Another goal that the Heat had going into the trade deadline was to cut down their luxury tax bill. They were set to pay more than $25 million in taxes, something they would try to avoid at all costs. That was part of the reason that Mario Chalmers was traded earlier in the season, as the Heat wanted no part of paying that sort of tax bill. Chris Andersen was another player they were looking to move because of his contract, and the three-team deal enabled them to do that.

By shipping Andersen out of town and receiving Roberts back, the Heat were able to take a big chunk off their tax bill.

So the Heat acquired a backup point guard that would help fill the void left with Tyler Johnson undergoing shoulder surgery, and saved money. It was a win, but they were far from done. The Heat would make another trade with the Pelicans to save even more money.

In that deal, the Heat shipped seldom used big man Jarnell Stokes to New Orleans in what was just a salary dump. Despite all the injuries the Heat had in the front court, Stokes was never able to carve out a role in Erik Spoelstra’s rotation. He was expendable, and the Heat chipped in $700,000 for the Pelicans to take him off their hands. It was a worthwhile move, as the Heat continued to slash salary.

The Heat had slashed their tax bill greatly, which some teams would have taken as a victory already. But Pat Riley is not one to do things only partly, so he continued making moves to lower the tax bill even more. In his last deal of the trade deadline, Riley shipped Roberts, who had just finished his first practice with the Heat and talked highly about the welcome text that Riley sent him.

The journeyman point guard was sent on his way to join his third team in two days, but it was a necessary move for Riley to accomplish his goal of slashing salary. By shipping Roberts out to Portland, the Heat were finally under the luxury tax, saving themselves another $6 million in the process.

While there were some jokes made at the expense of the Heat with how they went about getting under the luxury tax, the fact remains the same; Riley and the organization set a goal for themselves and they met it. Despite adding sweeteners in some of the deals in money or future draft picks, the Heat will be saving a ton of money this offseason in tax dollars, which is what they ultimately set out to do once they realized they would not be able to add an impact player they had hoped that they would be able to land heading into the deadline.

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With so few trades going down at the deadline, the Heat are clear winners this year. Many teams went into the 2016 NBA Trade Deadline with a plan in place, but few, if any, executed it as flawlessly as Miami did. They slashed all the salary they had hoped to, giving them more flexibility this offseason when they have a greater chance of adding that impact player to help them.