As Durant situation drags on, Heat in position to remain patient as Celtics enter picture

It has been a quiet summer for the Miami Heat. But it still has the potential to be one of the most memorable offseasons in franchise history.

That’s because superstar forward Kevin Durant’s situation remains unresolved after requesting a trade from the Brooklyn Nets nearly four weeks ago in late June. Durant, who has yet to speak publicly since news of his trade demand surfaced, reportedly listed the Heat and Phoenix Suns as his preferred trade destinations.

Whether this turns into a franchise-altering offseason is somewhat out of the Heat’s control, though.

Mailbag: Is it time for Heat to turn attention to trade options not named Kevin Durant?

The Heat’s front office remains interested in pursuing Durant, but Miami and the rest of the NBA has yet to meet the Nets’ historic asking price for him. Many around the league believe the Durant sweepstakes will drag on — possibly into training camp or even the regular season — as Brooklyn waits for the massive return it’s looking for and other teams wait for the Nets to potentially lower their asking price.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported early Monday morning that the Boston Celtics joined the Heat, Suns and Toronto Raptors as teams that have been in “regular contact with the Nets” regarding a potential Durant trade. According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the Nets recently rejected a Celtics offer that included Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and a draft pick, with Brooklyn asking Boston for more.

The current standstill isn’t surprising, considering the Nets have time before training camps around the NBA open in late September. The expectation is trade talks between Brooklyn and interested teams will pick up as the start of the season nears.

While the Heat is still alive as a trade option for Durant, the reality is Miami also has to be ready to move forward with its current roster if a deal doesn’t materialize.

If a trade for Durant (or Utah Jazz star guard Donovan Mitchell, who is also reportedly available on the trade market) doesn’t happen, the Heat’s roster for next season will very likely look a lot like last season’s. Miami re-signed three players in center Dewayne Dedmon, forward Caleb Martin and guard Victor Oladipo in free agency and has yet to make any outside free agent additions this summer.

Twelve of the 13 players currently signed by the Heat to standard contracts for this upcoming season were also on the season-ending roster.

The only new face is rookie forward Nikola Jovic, who was selected by Miami with the 27th overall pick in last month’s draft. And the lone member of last season’s Heat playoff rotation who is elsewhere is forward P.J. Tucker, who left to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency.

But the Heat is clearly still interested in making a move for Durant, a 12-time NBA All-Star, four-time scoring champion and former league MVP. It’s a big reason why Miami has not made a smaller trade to address a hole at power forward following Tucker’s departure, because dealing away a first-round pick and/or salary would take away valuable assets that would be needed to make a blockbuster deal for Durant or another star.

The Heat can afford to remain patient because missing out on Durant doesn’t mean that it won’t be competitive next season. Miami would essentially “run it back” with a roster that finished just one win short of representing the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals this past season.

The Heat’s roster for next season, which can include up to 15 players on standard contracts, is already nearly full with 13 players: Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, Dewayne Dedmon, Tyler Herro, Haywood Highsmith, Jovic, Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin, Victor Oladipo, Duncan Robinson, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent and Omer Yurtseven.

The Nets are looking for All-Star caliber talent and significant draft compensation in return for Durant, who turns 34 in September.

So what can the Heat offer the Nets if Miami continues to refuse to include its top two players, Adebayo and Butler, as part of a trade package for Durant?

Such a Heat offer would need to be headlined by the 22-year-old Herro, who was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year this past season.

For salary-matching purposes to satisfy NBA rules, more Heat players would need to be included in a trade for Durant. The Heat would need to send out at least about $35 million in salaries to acquire Durant’s $44.1 million salary for next season.

A hypothetical Heat offer that includes Herro ($5.7 million salary for 2022-23), Robinson ($16.9 million) and Lowry ($28.3 million) would meet that requirement, and Miami also has young talent on minimum deals like Vincent, Strus and Yurtseven who can be included in the offer if the Nets want more.

Then there’s the draft compensation that the Heat would need to include in a trade for Durant.

The Heat is currently eligible to include two unprotected first-round picks in a trade offer. But Miami could unlock a third unprotected first-round pick to offer Brooklyn if it can negotiate to lift the lottery protections on the 2025 first-round selection it owes the Oklahoma City Thunder.

If the Heat can make the 2025 first-rounder it owes to the Thunder unprotected, Miami would be eligible to include three unprotected first-round picks in 2023, 2027 and 2029 in a trade offer for Durant. This is the maximum amount of unprotected first-rounders the Heat is currently able to trade away with NBA rules not allowing teams to be without consecutive first-round selections and teams only allowed to deal draft picks up to seven drafts into the future.

In this scenario, the Heat could also include three pick swaps in its trade offer to the Nets in 2024, 2026 and 2028, which would give Brooklyn the ability to come away with the better draft position between the two teams in each of those respective years.

The challenge for the Heat is finding a way to convince the Nets to accept a trade offer for Durant that does not include Adebayo or Butler, but features Herro as the centerpiece. The Celtics reportedly including Brown in an offer to the Nets could be troublesome for the Heat’s chances of landing Durant, especially if Boston eventually decides to include more first-round picks or other rotation players as part of the trade package.

“Herro is perhaps the most polarizing high-wattage player in the NBA,” ESPN’s Zach Lowe wrote last week. “He has reached this strange point just as he becomes the key veteran in any potential Miami Heat trade package for Kevin Durant, Donovan Mitchell, or whichever star becomes available next. The Heat so far have not gotten much traction on either front, sources say, but they are still trying and can never be counted out.”

Based on the fact that Miami has made it a priority to protect its top trade assets and maintain salary cap flexibility by not triggering the restrictive hard cap, the Heat isn’t ready to be counted out for Durant. There’s only so much the Heat can control in this situation, but it has put itself in position to remain patient to allow Durant’s trade request to play out.