NBA Trade Grades: Heat trade for Andre Iguodala, sign him to extension

The Memphis Grizzlies are trading a package featuring Andre Iguodala to the Miami Heat for Justise Winslow and a pair of veterans, while the Minnesota Timberwolves have gotten involved with Gorgui Dieng. Here are NBA Trade Grades for both sides.

After nearly eight months at an impasse, Andre Iguodala and the Memphis Grizzlies have finally parted ways. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the 36-year-old wing will be joining the Miami Heat soon, and what’s more, he’s already agreed to a two-year, $30 million extension beyond this season. Per Wojnarowski, the Grizz will be receiving Justise Winslow for their involvement in the deal.

The Athletic‘s Shams Charania reports the second year of Iggy’s extension is a team option, which makes such an overpay less of an issue, but still significant.

Talks progressed to a three-team deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder to potentially include Danilo Gallinari in the package being sent Miami’s way, but ultimately those talks stalled. Miami and Memphis focused on a straight up trade, but Wojnarowski later reported the Minnesota Timberwolves got in on the action, sending Gorgui Dieng to Memphis in return for James Johnson from Miami.

According to Sharania, Solomon Hill and Jae Crowder — late scratches in Wednesday night’s game — will be heading to Miami, while Wojnarowski reports Dion Waiters will be heading to Memphis along with Winslow. No picks are involved in the deal.

Now that all the minute details have been worked out, how did the Grizzlies, Heat and Timberwolves fare in this exchange? To sort it out, here are NBA Trade Grades for all three teams.

Memphis Grizzlies

In just about two years, the Grizzlies have turned the last vestiges of the Grit-N-Grind era into a promising new rebuild with a tantalizing young core.

As if landing franchise cornerstones like Jaren Jackson Jr. and Ja Morant in the top-three picks of back-to-back drafts wasn’t enough, and as if trading their way into Brandon Clarke and De’Anthony Melton wasn’t savvy enough, now they’ve turned a 36-year-old sitting on the sidelines into another foundational piece who fits with the team’s timeline and what they’re trying to do moving forward.

To be fair, Winslow has only played in 11 games so far this season, sitting out since Jan. 8 due to recurring back issues that have plagued him since early December. While he thrived last year after being moved into a more central, point forward role, his numbers had taken a dip in limited minutes this year, falling to 11.3 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game on .388/.222/.667 shooting splits.

However, with such a limited sample size that was hindered by injuries, Winslow’s stat line from last season — 12.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game on .433/.375/.628 splits — paint a clearer picture of what this 23-year-old was evolving into. Shooting remains a concern, but he had shot at least 37 percent from 3 in back-to-back seasons until this year’s misfortunes struck. The biggest concern is availability, since Winslow has missed 136 games since 2015-16.

He won’t be able to excel in a potential point forward role unless it’s off the bench, since Morant is more than capable of serving as the lead ball-handler and facilitator, but Winslow is a tenacious defender, a capable secondary playmaker and, ideally, a serviceable floor-spacer who can play multiple positions.

As for the other pieces coming in, Waiters has had a troublesome year with the Heat, only suiting up for three games this season while being suspended for 17 total games over the course of three separate suspensions. Hopefully a change of scenery does him some good, since he’s still got another year and $12.7 million left on his contract.

Dieng, however, is a useful backup big who thrived in Karl-Anthony Towns’ absence this season. The original two-team deal had James Johnson heading to Memphis, but even though Dieng’s $17.3 million he’s owed next season is actually more than Johnson’s $16 million player option, he’s a better, more useful player who helps bolster the frontcourt depth. Even if he and Waiters are total deadweight, it’s only for a year, and it’s not like the Grizz were going to be players in free agency this summer anyway.

All in all, turning Iguodala’s absence into a former top-10 pick with considerable room for growth and a capable backup big is a massive win for the Grizzlies and a front office that’s been nailing every move it’s made lately — even at the expense of taking on an extra $30 million in salary between two veterans who may be washed.

Grade: A-

Miami Heat

Turning a promising young Swiss Army knife into a 36-year-old wing — even one as accomplished as Andre Iguodala — seems like a sketchy tradeoff, but luckily for the Heat, shedding the contracts of Johnson and Waiters makes this deal a lot more defensible.

Ditto for the second year of Iguodala’s contract being a team option that will maintain flexibility for free agency pitches in 2021.

Waiters and Johnson had become two of Miami’s laziest and most troublesome players, and they were still on the books for next season for a combined $28.7 million. This move gives Pat Riley extra flexibility moving forward, since both Jae Crowder ($7.8 million) and Solomon Hill ($12.8 million) are expiring contracts.

Now, the Heat will be getting a fully healthy and rested Iguodala for a playoff run, along with useful, physical veterans like Crowder and Hill — extra bodies that can be thrown at star players like Giannis Antetotkounmpo in a playoff series.

Though their numbers haven’t leapt off the page this season, their off-court contributions to Memphis’ young core have been instrumental by all accounts. Crowder was averaging a respectable 9.9 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, though his paltry .368/.293/.789 shooting splits will need to improve in a playoff environment.

As for Hill, who was good for just 5.7 points and 3.0 rebounds in his 18.8 minutes per game, he was at least spreading the floor fairly well, canning 38.1 percent of his 3.1 long-range attempts per game.

Losing Winslow and his two-way potential hurts, but the fact of the matter is, he was rarely healthy enough to make good on that bright future. The Heat managed to turn three relatively unused or unwanted contracts into a wealth of experience and two-way prowess that will bolster the rotation come playoff time, with the added benefit of financial flexibility for this summer and next. This probably doesn’t move the needle all the way to “title contender” for the Heat, but they got better, ditched unwanted salary and didn’t have to take on any ugly contracts in the process.

Both teams benefit in wildly different ways, but for now, it’s something of a win for both sides.

Grade: A-

Minnesota Timberwolves

First and foremost, the Timberwolves have had a productive last couple of days in shedding unwanted salary. While acquiring D’Angelo Russell was obviously a big win, dumping Andrew Wiggins‘ contract was a victory in and of itself. Dumping Dieng and the $17.3 million left on his deal for next season is another victory in the same vein.

Much like Waiters, James Johnson has experienced a bumpy ride in Miami this year, playing just 15.6 minutes per game over his 18 appearances for the Heat. He’s got a $16 million player option this summer, but even if he opts in, at least the Timberwolves have a tough-minded veteran to help this young group move forward.

This team could certainly use that toughness, even if it’s only for a couple of months. Fingers crossed he’ll opt out and free up additional cap room for the Wolves, but even if he doesn’t, he’ll only be on the books for an additional season, and he could have trade value down the road as an expiring contract.

Grade: B