The Miami Heat have few young players, are a fringe playoff team, and have the highest payroll in the league. Here are three useful trades they should make.
Sorry if the header is a bit depressing, but that’s the state of the Miami Heat. They stood pat last summer and entered this season with the same roster they had at the end of the 2017-18 season. Miami didn’t have the cap space or assets to make any major move, but not making any moves at all proved to be a poor decision.
Although the Eastern Conference was seemingly wide open with LeBron James leaving the East for the Los Angles Lakers, Miami is in no position to make noise in the playoffs. The currently sixth-seeded Heat are only three games ahead of 10th place. They have a good chance to make the playoffs, but little chance at advancing past the first round.
Aside from having little chance at winning the Eastern Conference, let alone the NBA Finals, the Heat are paying out the wazoo for this average group of players. The team payroll of $158 million is the highest in the entire league. The second highest is the Oklahoma City Thunder’s $146 million, followed by the Golden State Warriors, Toronto Raptors and Portland Trail Blazers.
In addition to this, the Heat are one of the oldest teams in the league. The average age of 28.19 years is the third-oldest in the league. The lack of young players is something that can be a big problem as the veteran players age and deteriorate. It also means the Heat don’t have any players they can use as trade assets.
Here are three trades that the Heat can make to cure those problems.