Miami Heat Rumors: Luol Deng to be acquired in sign-and-trade?
By Josh Hill
The Miami Heat probably have a harder task than any other team in free agency this year as they need to lock down a solid roster in order to convince three of the best players in the league to re-sign with them. It’s seems a lot easier said than done but the Heat are already getting aggressive in their attempts to bolster the roster from where it was last year and Pat Riley is hard at work trying to get something working.
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One name that has been a bit of a surprise for the Heat but has managed to stick around beyond the initial rumor stages of the infant hours of free agency is former Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers swingman Luol Deng.
According to Yahoo! Sports guru Adrian Wojnarowski, the Miami Heat indeed have interest in Luol Deng and could work towards a sign-and-trade that lands him in South Beach this summer.
"The Heat have interest in free-agent forward Luol Deng, who is traveling in Europe and may not be available for face-to-face meetings for several days, a source told Yahoo Sports. Miami could try to arrange a sign-and-trade agreement with Cleveland to acquire Deng, but nothing has started in that process, sources said."
There are conflicting reports about the seriousness of Miami’s interest but Woj has been all over Pat Riley’s attempts to reach out and establish a connection with Deng which coming from someone as reliable as Wojnarowski is means that the interest is rather serious.
No one is saying the Heat are working on a sign-and-trade but that could be an endgame here as much as losing out on Deng could be as well. Only time will tell what happens with Deng and the Heat and so far it’s looking like the interest in him means something.