NBA Rumors: Miami Heat feared Houston Rockets would draft Shabazz Napier

Perhaps the worst kept secret of the NBA Draft process was that the Miami Heat’s No. 1 target was Shabazz Napier and they were willing to do just about anything to try and land him.

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Miami ultimately sent the No. 26 pick and two second round picks to the Charlotte Hornets for the 24^th selection, where Napier was taken.

One might wonder why the Heat gave up such a significant package to move up just two picks. The reason: it appears Miami simply wasn’t willing to risk the possibility that the Houston Rockets would snag Napier at pick No. 25.

From Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel:

"The only logical reason is that Heat President Pat Riley was convinced that the Houston Rockets, at No. 25, were poised to pounce. The logic, to a degree, made sense, with the Rockets potentially having to excise Jeremy Lin to make room for a top-tier free agent and with Napier fan LeBron James among the potential Houston targets. “You don’t want to get sort of left at the altar,” Riley said. “The same thing happened with Norris [Cole]. We had the 32nd pick in the [2011] draft, and as we got closer and closer and closer, we heard that somebody was going to take him at 29, or whatever it was, so we moved up four spots and got him. And that next team took a guard. So it’s a bad feeling. You might as well go for it at that time.”"

An alternate scenario in which the Rockets have Napier is certainly interesting. Houston is among LeBron James’ free agent suitors and snagging Napier would have likely improved their chances of ending up with the two-time NBA champion. LBJ has made it clear multiple times that he would like to play with Napier.

Instead, the Heat ended up with LeBron’s favorite prospect. Factoring that in, along with the news Saturday that Udonis Haslem is opting out of his contract, Miami sure looks to be the prohibitive favorites to land The King this summer.