Top 3 landing spots for Zach LaVine at the trade deadline

Landing Spot #3: LaVine hits south beach

Along with the Mavericks, Lakers, and Knicks, Michael Scotto also listed the Miami Heat as a potentially interested team. Much like Chicago, Miami’s season has not gone quite as expected — though they at least own an above .500 record.

After making it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, the Heat sit uncomfortably in the eighth seed in the East and are looking to make the necessary changes to turn their season around. one such path could potentially be a pursuit of Zach LaVine.

LaVine’s potential interest would be clear. A winning environment in a desirable location, what’s not to like? Miami is about as ideal as it gets on paper, and it simply comes down to if a deal is feasible.

In the most likely scenario, the Bulls would receive Tyler Herro in a deal, which complicates a trade but does not make it impossible. The complication is that, after signing an extension after his rookie scale contract, the “poison pill provision” now applies until the extension takes effect.

What that exactly means is that, should the Heat decide to trade Herro, his outgoing salary would be considered his current salary for this season (roughly $5.7 million). However, for the team receiving him (in this case, the Bulls), it would be considered the average annual salary of his remaining contracted years, both the remaining of his old contract and his upcoming extension (averaged to roughly $25.1 million).

It’s not impossible for a deal to functionally work between the two teams, but clearly, that near $20 million difference would make negotiating difficult.