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MONDAY, 11:46am: The trade is official, both teams announced via press release. It’s a 2016 second-rounder going to Miami. Orlando receives cash in addition to Napier.
2:52pm: The deal is expected to be formally announced Monday, tweets Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. The second-round pick is heavily protected, according to Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). The Magic will keep the pick unless they have a top five record next season.
SUNDAY, 12:23pm: The Magic will acquire Shabazz Napier from the Heat, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports tweets. The Heat will receive a protected future second-round pick, Wojnarowski adds (Twitter link).
Miami was aggressively trying to deal Napier in addition to Mario Chalmers because of luxury tax concerns, according to previous reports. Napier set to make roughly $1.3MM this season and has a team option on his salary for the 2016/17 season. Thus, the deal as reported will allow the Heat to create a trade exception worth $1,294,440, the precise value of Napier’s salary this season.
Orlando will now have 10 players on its roster who were drafted since 2011 with four players coming via trade, as former Nets executive Bobby Marks notes (Twitter link). Napier will presumably be the team’s third string point guard behind 2015 rookie of the year candidate Elfrid Payton and new addition C.J. Watson.
Napier was reportedly a favorite of LeBron James, and his addition to the Heat last summer seemed like a play to retain the four-time MVP, who instead returned to Cleveland. Miami came away with Napier’s rights in a 2014 draft-night deal with Charlotte, which used the No. 24 pick to take the point guard last year. Miami gave Napier 10 starts, and he averaged 19.8 minutes per game, but he played in only one game after March 9th as he battled a sports hernia that ultimately ended his season prematurely.
1 down 3 more to go…I still think Shabazz can be a piece for someone in the league, but unfortunately, there is a salary cap, and there is a roster limit, and he no longer fit on this year’s roster. He needs to get better at finishing at the rim, and continue to improve shooting the ball, and just playing at an NBA pace. Defensively, he has to limit his lapses. Other than that he has shown capability of b
Shabazz’s contract wasn’t that much more costly than a minimum-salary deal, though of course that cost is magnified because of the tax. Still, I have to think that if the Heat had their druthers, they’d rather have kept Napier and traded Chalmers, who makes $4.3MM.
who says they’re keeping Chalmers. I’m assuming they’re trading him too. The heat have multiple combo guards that make less money than Napier, and are currently more valuable, so therefore, this move makes all the more sense.
Who are these multiple combo guards you speak of? I see Wade and G. Dragic as your only starting guards. Tyler Johnson and Z. Dragic as the only other “true” guards on the roster. The two backups have shot a combined 200 shots in their short NBA careers.
I suppose there might be guards on the FA market that maybe they fancy more than Napier or Chalmers.
The Heat are playoff contenders and I certainly don’t think you can go into the season with virtual nobodies as your bench players, especially with Wade’s injury history and age.
Are you thinking Winslow is an option at the SG spot?
The Heat could very well trade both and use a combination of Tyler Johnson and Wade to consume their back-up point guard minutes. I wonder if Spoelstra takes a page out of Rick Carlisle’s book and pulls Wade early, give him some rest and then uses him to reprieve Dragic.
I wonder who takes Chalmers (and his contract) of the Heat’s hands. It seemed like Napier was a nice asset and that coupling him with Chalmers was the best way to part with him. If team is willing to take on Mario’s contract now, maybe the stretch provision is in order.
Rio has an expiring deal, so its not like people are taking on a burden at $4.3 million. I cant figure out off the top of my head which team it may be, but I dont think that part is the issue.
The Heat may have to give up an asset to get someone to take Chalmers, similar to what the Rockets did with Jeremy Lin. Other teams recognize Miami’s salary situation, and they aren’t going to help the Heat without helping themselves.
Are we comparing the $17 million that was on Lin’s deal to $4.3 million for Chalmers? I personally think thats a different situation…Also, the Heat could technically hold onto Rio and try to trade him during the season, though that would probably make it difficult to keep all the young pieces they want to keep
Pacers could use a backup PG, not sure about cap numbers but i could see it happening.
Also, I can’t believe how little Orlando has to give up for Napier. It’s surprising that the Heat didn’t get more.
*luxury
Shabazz is the most underrated player in the NBA. You have to give a shot to someone who can handle the ball and thread the needle like he can. It’s going to be fun to see him play somewhere that (hopefully) gives him a little more freedom.
A little taste of what his 2015-16 highlight reel will look like: link to youtube.com and here’s his actual highlight reel from last year: link to youtube.com