Albatross Heat contract may have killed chances of DeMar DeRozan trade

After the Miami Heat lost in the 2022-23 NBA Finals, they made a run at Damian Lillard and fell short. The following season saw them get gentleman swept in the first round of the playoffs by the eventual NBA Champion Boston Celtics. They went star-hunting again, this time pursuing DeMar DeRozan. They missed out on him too, with DeRozan signing a three-year deal to join the Sacramento Kings.

While DeRozan might not have made the Heat favorites to win the Eastern Conference, he would've made them a whole lot better. After seeing what teams like the Knicks and 76ers have done this offseason it's hard to blame Miami for trying to get better. They were and are just extremely limited with what they can do.

They're a team that doesn't have much money to work with and doesn't have many tradable assets at their disposal. Miami reportedly tried to dangle Duncan Robinson in a potential sign-and-trade with the Chicago Bulls for DeRozan, but that ultimately did not work out in their favor. Robinson's contract might have killed the deal according to NBA insider Bobby Marks.

Duncan Robinson's contract might have killed Heat chances at landing DeMar DeRozan

"They would have loved to get DeMar DeRozan. They tried as heck to get DeMar DeRozan. Nobody wanted Duncan Robinson, no offense. They had one first-round pick to trade."

Perhaps if the Heat had more than one first-round pick to trade the Bulls would've been willing to stomach Robinson's contract, but why should they want to acquire Robinson, a player who is not only making $19.4 million this upcoming season, but has a $19.6 million player option for next season as well?

Robinson is a terrific shooter, boasting a career 39.8 three-point percentage, but he has shot below that average in each of the last three seasons. He provides little to no additional value outside of what he can do as a floor spacer. He has been in and out of the Heat rotation for a couple of seasons now. It's going to take a lot for a team to willingly take his contract on, especially with how much teams are watching their budgets now.

It's been a rough offseason for the Heat who signed Alec Burks and re-signed Kevin Love and Haywood Highsmith. That's about it. They extended Bam Adebayo and drafted Kel'el Ware, but they're essentially running back the team that was the No. 8 seed and proved to be no match for Boston without Caleb Martin who joined the 76ers.

DeRozan is far from a perfect player in his own right, but pairing him alongside the likes of Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, and Terry Rozier would've been fascinating to watch, especially with Erik Spoelstra coaching them. His fit alongside Butler would've been tough to envision, but again, never doubt Spoelstra.

The Heat have a knack for overachieving, but it'll take some more Spoelstra and Pat Riley wizardry to see much improvement from this Heat team in the 2024-25 season.