Getty Kyrie Irving of the Dallas Mavericks.
Every summer it seems as if the Miami Heat are interested in landing one of the league’s top performers. It makes sense, an organization that wants to compete has to bring in talent, right?
One star whose name has been linked to Miami this spring has been Kyrie Irving of the Dallas Mavericks. Irving’s contract expires on July 1, making him an unrestricted free agent.
The consensus on the 10-time All-Star is that he’ll be back in Dallas next year. However, he may have interest in joining the Heat.
According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s Ira Winderman, Irving “wants to come” to Miami.
He told Brian Scalabrine so, during a recent appearance on his Sirius XM radio show.
“I do think Kyrie Irving wants to come here,” Winderman said on “The Starting Lineup.” “I don’t think the Heat are going to be subservient to Kyrie’s wishes. I will find that much more of a long shot.”
While the Heat don’t have the cap space to sign the superstar guard, that doesn’t mean that they can’t trade for him.
Players like Tyler Herro, Kyle Lowry, and even Duncan Robinson could possible serve as trade chips, helping the Heat to match whatever salary Irving’s new contract may pay out.
Heat Tried to Trade for Kyrie Irving Before Deadline
If Winderman’s report is true, then the interest between Irving and the Heat is mutual. Miami has long coveted the 31-year-old. They even tried to land him in a trade last season, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.
“Just to give you a glimpse of what they’ve looked at over the last several months, they made an offer to the [Brooklyn] Nets for Kyrie Irving at the deadline from what I’m told, right before he got traded to the Mavericks before the deadline,” Charania said of Miami. “They’re going to explore seeing what the star market is out there… Do they circle back on Kyrie Irving?”
Heat In the Market for a Star This Offseason
After failing to go all the way, falling to the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Finals, Miami is looking to add a star this summer. Whether it be Irving, Damian Lillard, or Bradley Beal the Heat are in the hunt.
According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, Miami will “go hunting” for a star this summer.
“They have draft picks at their disposal, and they potentially have tradeable contracts, and I think they’re going to go hunting for a star,” Windhorst said on the June 13 episode of ESPN’s “Get Up. “I don’t know if they’ll get one. I don’t know if it’ll all break their way.”
Windhorst wouldn’t name names, but said that the Heat could net a new star, should that player name South Beach as a preferred destination.
“I’m not going to sit here and tell you who it is because I’ll get aggregated [Sorry, Windy!], but there are players they’re keeping an eye on and they have the ability to do it, especially if a player says, ‘Hey, send me to Miami,’” Windhorst added. “And they have a little window here before the second apron kicks in where they may be able to spend a little money. They have some draft picks they can trade. After the draft, they can access their 2030 pick. They have the 18th pick in this draft, not that that’s super interesting. I don’t think they can beat all comers on a star trade but if a player says, ‘Send me to Miami’ in the next two weeks, they are not in the worst position of all time to make it.”
