NBA Rumors: Miami Heat will not sign and trade LeBron James

By Josh Hill | Jun 24, 2014

Jun 15, 2014; San Antonio, TX, USA; Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) during the first quarter in game five of the 2014 NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /

LeBron James has opted out of his contract with the Miami Heat and the resulting firestorm of activity is already seeing a slew of scenarios thrown up against the wall to see what sticks. As we’ve been hearing for weeks now, the Houston Rockets and Cleveland Cavaliers are getting the most immediate attention now that LeBron is a free agent but the Los Angeles Clippers are also starting to get some love.

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Speaking of the Clippers, the only way he’d likely end up there is through a sign-and-trade and that’s a term we’re likely to hear more and more of as the summer continues on.

According to Yahoo! Sports insider Adrian Wojnarowski, the Miami Heat will not be going along kindly with the idea of signing and then trading LeBron James. They haven’t been open to that in the past and Woj reports they’re really not open to it right now.

"As for sign-and-trade scenarios, in which Riley would have to assist James in getting his maximum financial payout with a new team, the organization has been privately adamant that they’d never do it, league sources said. If James wanted to force his way to the Clippers, he’d have to create the fear within Miami that it could lose him for nothing to a team with the salary cap space to sign him."

This makes sense for the Heat to not be open to trading LeBron James but it might be something they have to eventually consider with a certain degree of seriousness. They are still the best place for him, if they can get their roster in order, but if they’re going to lose him anyways then they’re best of signing and trading him away which is what we’ve seen happen so many times to so many different superstars in the NBA.