The NBA Draft hasn’t seen as many trades as we’re used to seeing and the latest trade occurred in the middle of the 20s as Shabazz Napier was finally selected but then traded almost immediately by the Charlotte Hornets.
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The Miami Heat had been jockeying to move up and draft Napier but they weren’t able to strike a deal before the draft. So rather than move up before hand, the Heat waited until Napier was picked and then moved to trade for him after the Hornets took him with the No. 24 overall pick.
The trade lands the Heat their first major piece in trying to convince LeBron James to stay with the Heat as he was a big fan of the UConn star and lobbied to get him. The Heat want LeBron back back and trading for Shabazz Napier means that they’re on the right track to doing what they need to do to get LeBron back in South Beach in 2014-15.
What the trade also means is that Mario Chalmers days with the Heat are likely over as Norris Cole won’t be traded and Chalmers contract that has expired likely won’t be pursued with any sort of seriousness by the Miami Heat now that they have Shabazz Napier coming to town.