The Miami Heat made a disappointing exit in the first round of this year’s playoffs, but with a little health luck and a savvy move or two this summer the team can play its way right back into contention in what is a wide open East outside of the Boston Celtics.
Grant Hughes of Bleacher Report on Tuesday, June 25, authored a trade pitch in which the Heat acquire Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Duncan Robinson and the No. 15 overall pick in Wednesday night’s NBA draft.
Rather than subtracting Jimmy Butler — an option that has seemed fairly likely since Pat Riley’s pointed comments about the five-time All-NBA honoree — this deal sees the Heat make a major addition.
Young and his ball-dominant, defense-averse style might be a tough fit with #HeatCulture, but what if Miami’s demanding environment is exactly what the high-scoring guard needs to unlock the next level in his game? Anointed as a franchise cornerstone since his arrival in Atlanta, Young might benefit from playing with an organization that values selflessness, attention to detail and grit over just about everything else.
Plus, Miami has been relatively weak on offense for most of the Butler-[Bam] Adebayo era. Young, a truly dominant initiator, can lift a team’s attack all by himself.
Trae Young Would Immediately Elevate Heat’s Offensive Attack
To Hughes’ point, Young is a career 25.5 points per game scorer and has connected on 43.6% of his career shots from deep on 8.1 attempts per contest, according to Basketball Reference.
Miami would lose a decent amount shooting in the proposed deal by sending Herro and Robinson to Atlanta, though Robinson has struggled through long droughts that have earned him long stretches on the bench since signing a $90 million deal nearly three years go.
Herro has been a more consistent option over the past couple of seasons but also has a meaningful injury history that cost him almost half of last season and sidelined him for the vast majority of the Heat’s run to the Finals the year before.
Despite often playing as essentially a zero defensively, Young has been a far more impactful player than either Herro or Robinson over the course of his career. The point guard has been to three All-Star games and has averaged 9.5 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1 steal per game over his six years in the league.
Young is playing on a five-year, $215 million deal that keeps him under contract through 2025-26 with a player option for the following season.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. Would Be Tough Player for Heat to Give Up
The player that might be the most painful to part with in Miami is Jaquez.
The Heat selected the 6-foot-6 forward out of UCLA with the No. 18 pick in the 2023 draft. He appeared in 75 games during his rookie campaign, which included 20 starts.
Jaquez finished the season with averages of 11.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1 steal per game. He earned NBA All-Rookie First-Team honors for his efforts and finished fourth in the league’s Rookie of the Year voting.
He was also a quality defender, posting a defensive rating of 113.2 during his first professional campaign. The average for all NBA players, not just rookies, was 116.1 in the 2023-24 season.
Jaquez is just 23 years old and figures to continue on an upward performance trajectory for multiple campaigns to come. That said, if the Heat can procure Young while retaining Butler and Adebayo, that is the most likely grouping to take Miami back to the Finals for the third time in six years.
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