NBA Trade Grades: Suns adding Tyler Johnson from Heat
Miami Heat
For the Heat, the primary reason behind this move is ducking the luxury tax. They aren’t there yet, and will have to add a 14th player since the roster currently stands at 13, but this deal certainly gets them closer, saving around $8 million in salary and luxury tax payments:
This is absolutely brilliant work by the Miami Heat… They drop from $6.3M to just $1.2M over the tax line ($8.0M savings), and put themselves in striking distance of avoiding it altogether, for 2018-19; and turn a $19.2M player option into a $15.6M partial guarantee for 2019-20.
— Albert Nahmad (@AlbertNahmad) February 6, 2019
To be fair, their own shortsighted decision to match that 2016 offer sheet for Tyler Johnson put them in this unsavory position in the first place, but Anderson’s 2018-19 salary is only guaranteed for $15.6 million. Compared to the $19.2 million player option Johnson will assuredly opt into for next 2019-20, that’s a small victory.
From the fans’ perspective, trading Johnson’s 10.8 points per game for Anderson is hardly an enticing prospect, especially since Ryno hasn’t played for an 11-win Suns team since Dec. 4. He appeared in a grand total of 15 games for Phoenix and looked washed up in that time, posting career lows or near career-lows across the board (3.7 points in 18.5 minutes per game, 20.6 percent shooting from 3).
His days of being a useful stretch-4 may be long gone, but even if he experiences the post-Phoenix resurrection most ex-Suns immediately enjoy, this move is simply about cutting salary. Another, more tangible benefit? Easing the backcourt logjam:
The clear advantage to this trade from the Heat perspective is that the roster logjam Erik Spoelstra has been dealing with is now lessened. Remember, Goran Dragic is back in a couple weeks as well.
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) February 6, 2019
With Dion Waiters back on the floor and Goran Dragic set to return soon, the Heat’s backcourt was fully crammed. Moving Johnson and Wayne Ellington for some extra frontcourt padding makes sense, even if Johnson and Ellington are clearly more useful players.
This trade could endanger Miami’s playoff positioning, with only 1.5 games currently separating the Heat from falling out of the 8-seed in the Eastern Conference. The team undoubtedly got worse with this move, or at least until Waiters shakes the rust off and Dragic is fully healthy.
Ellington’s expiring deal had to be taken advantage of, but it’s unfortunate they were unable to snag a single second round pick as part of that process. The luxury tax savings are still a decent return, but there’s very little for the fans to be tangibly excited about.
Grade: C