Miami Heat Rumors: Omri Casspi A Trade Target?
Miami Heat Rumors: With three-point shooting being a concern for the Heat, could Sacramento Kings’ forward Omri Casspi be a trade target?
The Miami Heat have been able to right the ship a little bit in the last two weeks. After looking like their season was about to go down the drain thanks to two lengthy road trips and injuries mixed in, the Heat have recovered nicely to win six of their last nine games.
They are currently fifth in the Eastern Conference with a 29-24 record, but are only 2.5 games ahead of the ninth-place Detroit Pistons.
Despite the nice turnaround in the last nine games and being in a playoff spot currently, the Heat have a glaring need that they need to fix; their three-point shooting. The Heat are one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the NBA this season, ranking 28th in percentage at 32.3, making only 6.1 per game.
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The NBA average for three-point shooting percentage this season is 35.2 percent, which only Chris Bosh and Luol Deng are better than, with percentages of 36.5 and 36.3 percent respectively.
So, it is safe to say that the Heat could use some three-point shooting help as it is arguably the weakest facet of their game. Could they be able to try and alleviate that problem by making a trade with the Sacramento Kings for Omri Casspi?
Casspi is a career 36.8 percent shooter from deep and is in the midst of a career-best season from beyond the three-point line, knocking them down at a 42.2 percent clip. With the Kings teetering on the playoff brink thanks to losses in eight of their last 10 games, and George Karl close to being fired, they could begin a tear down of their roster again.
If that happens, expect the Heat to try and acquire the sharp-shooting Casspi.
According to Ethan Skolnick of The Miami Herald, the Heat have explored the possibility of acquiring the Kings’ forward. How they would go about acquiring Casspi is a different manner.
The Heat are trying to improve their roster while still cutting salary to avoid the luxury tax. The easiest way to do that would be dumping Chris Andersen and his $5 million contract on the Kings. They have made questionable decisions in the past, but it is hard to imagine them trading a productive 27-year-old player on a cheap contract for Andersen.
Because of that, Skolnick believes that the Kings could express interest in combo guard Tyler Johnson. Despite Johnson being sidelined currently with shoulder surgery, he is someone the Kings could be interested in getting back in a trade for Casspi.
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"“So it’s not likely, without including a draft choice — and Miami can’t trade a first-rounder before the 2024 draft — that Miami can just dump cap space (in the form of, say, Chris Andersen’s contract) on Sacramento. It may need to include a player of some value, and sources say Sacramento has expressed interest in Tyler Johnson, even though Johnson may miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury.”"
While trading Johnson would be a tough pill for the Heat to swallow, there is a high likelihood that he will not be able to contribute anymore this season. While Casspi would help immediately, there is an argument that can be made that Johnson would be the better player for the Heat in the long run.
Without a first-round draft pick to trade until 2024, the Heat have limited assets in the way of draft picks to acquire young talent, so trading away someone such as Johnson for a quick fix will make for a tough decision.
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The Heat may be better off waiting until veterans are bought out of their contracts to find a sharpshooter than adding more salary and inching closer to the tax threshold. While Casspi would assuredly help the Heat’s shooting woes, expect them to focus more on shedding salary than adding it.