Miami would pursue a trade for Rockets star James Harden if the opportunity arises, a source tells Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. The former MVP reportedly expanded his list of preferred options this week, with the Heat and Bucks joining the Nets and Sixers.
According to the source, at least two members of Miami’s management team have “substantial interest” in adding Harden and there’s no significant opposition to the move. Outsiders have raised concerns that Harden’s ball-dominant style might not fit the Heat’s philosophy, but the belief among the front office is that Harden plays that way because that’s how the offense in Houston is structured.
The Rockets haven’t committed to putting Harden on the market, but the source says the Heat would be among the teams to make an offer in Houston moves in that direction. The source adds that Miami would be willing to include Tyler Herro to get a deal done. The Heat prefer to keep Herro, who made a huge impact during his rookie season, but recognize that players of Harden’s caliber are hard to obtain.
Assessing the situation this week, ESPN’s Zach Lowe suggested Herro is better than any single player that Brooklyn would be willing to part with, though he believes the Rockets would lean toward Ben Simmons if Philadelphia makes him available. Lowe adds that he doesn’t think “any substantive talks have happened with any teams” regarding a Harden trade.
Jackson notes that Miami has financial restrictions to consider. Because the Heat are above the salary cap, they would have to send out close to the $41.2MM that Harden earns this season. League rules state that Miami can take back as much as 125% of the salaries it parts with in the deal, plus $1ooK. Andre Iguodala ($15MM) and Kelly Olynyk ($12.6MM) would likely have to be included in any offer, Jackson states.
Goran Dragic, Meyers Leonard and Udonis Haslem, who all re-signed with the Heat over the offseason, have veto power over trades and can’t be moved before February 6. Free agent additions Avery Bradley and Maurice Harkless also can’t be traded until that date.
Jackson sees Miami’s best offer as Herro, two players from the group of Precious Achiuwa, Kendrick Nunn and Duncan Robinson, along with Olynyk and Iguodala to match salaries and first-round picks in 2025 and 2027. The Heat and Thunder would have to remove protections on the first-rounder Miami owes Oklahoma City in 2023 for that deal to be possible.
Where is our Rocket/Harden homer that is going to tell us it will take Butler, Herro, Bam, Nunn and 5 future firsts for just harden……
You were too light … You would need to add Duncan Robinson and Precious Achiuwa to that group to get the Harden homers even remotely intrigued
He is changing his name to Herro Nunn MVP and is going to pretend that Harden sucks and he never liked him.
Hahaha I love when he comments….like a month ago when he said CP3 was untradeable and OKC would have to deal multiple 1sts with him
I don’t know about that Harden-Wrestbrook-MVP-guy, but pass on Butler. I’ll gladly take Tyler Herro though. That dude has quite a bit of untapped potential.
Dawg even Pat Riley has to be included in the trade.
As well they should. Pat Riley loves big name players.
I would think 29 other teams in the NBA would be interested in trading for James Harden.
He would be a liability in a Warriors uniform.
You would be wrong. Maybe 3 or 4 would be.
@PapiElf, I actually think that more than half of the league has zero interest in Harden. A ball hog that would come at a hefty price and could leave at any point whenever he’s unhappy? Why would a team trading for him think he wouldn’t put a similar stunt next summer if things are not going the way he wants?
Agree. I’d stay away from this guy. His brand of basketball is not a winning one.
Define winning. He has made the playoffs every single year of his career. No one else that has been around for more than a couple of years in the NBA has done that. Not even LeBron. You can dislike his style of hoops all you want, but one thing you can’t say is that he doesn’t play winning basketball.
Okay then, he’s not a champion. Whatever. His style was Morey’s plan, and not many GMs want to be obliged to replicate that. I suspect that not that many would want to give up some of their powers to LJ either!
@hiflew He never lives up to expectations and falls apart in pressure situations. Your constant excuses for Harden are comical. You keep saying that just making it to the playoffs constitutes success, but all he has done is fail once he gets there. He had a big lead versus the Warriors but couldn’t hold it after Chris Paul went down because he hogs the ball and couldn’t deliver. That is a loser in my opinion.
Your constant hatred of Harden is not comical in the least. We get that you are a Warriors fan and hate the Rockets. No need to prove it anymore.
Dude, I hate the Warriors. Try again, kid. I actually wanted the Rockets to win that game I referenced just to see the Warriors lose, but Harden couldn’t handle the pressure, and all he had to do was either hit a shot or pass the ball. Just pathetic on his part. And it wasn’t on one play, but the majority of the 4th quarter.
Kid? Not a kid and haven’t been for a long time. I don’t really care what team you happen to inflict your fandom on, the point is that you have proven your hatred of Harden. I am done with this conversation now. Have a nice day.
@hiflew Somebody is a bit overly sensitive. Where do you get this idea of hatred for Harden? Harden struggles on defense.
Lol Warriors were favorites going into last season but couldn’t hold it when their star players went down and they couldn’t deliver. That is loser in my opinion.
@little_dunker Wow!! Such insight. A teams whole starting lineup goes down with injuries, and the team doesn’t win a lot of games. Who could have imagined that happening. That is the first time that has happened in any sport.
Why everybody acts like he’s not capable of playing other style of basketball? Maybe even he is now a bit tired of HOU style of playing and wants to change something?
He’s still one of top nba players & best at his position. You may not like his style of playing but you can’t deny that he CAN be a difference maker on any given team.
That’s just FACTS.
@col. sanders There is no hate. Harden struggles with the style of play known as DEFENSE. Harden is great if you cover up for a guard that is a defensive liability.
The same story goes with curry – good ofense no defense + ain’t no Klay to cover it up.
At least Curry makes the effort to play good defense. Harden doesn’t make the effort. And the Warriors traded for Oubre to fill the gap created by Klay’s loss.
Although Beard played some good D this post season I’m not defending him on that side. He’s known for his lack of defense for years but don’t act like curry is better than him because you’re being delusional now.
@col I’m sorry. Did I hurt your feelings? Harden is the most complete basketball player of the past 20 years. Feel better now?
Why would the Warriors want him….
He would be like the square peg in the round hole in their offense…..
I think 29 other teams would be interested in adding James Harden to their team, they would be stupid not to. However, I think the number interested in a James Harden TRADE would be significantly smaller than 29 given the cost that would accompany acquiring him.
I think that if Heat could add him to the roster WITHOUT trading Bam that could be lethal. We’ve seen what he can do on pick & roll with guy like Capela. Imagine what will happen with Adebayo.
Another interesting one would be pairing Harden with Giannis. MIL needs shooting & playmaking and if you have 2 guys on the team that almost all the time need to be doubled – it doesn’t look pretty to your oponents.
Malcontent
Herro and Robinson + Wall, Boogie, PJ, Gordon = 8 seed? Plus a couple of future picks and Olynyk for backup minutes. I’m not hating it for Houston. Brooklyn could match this but they would implode with Harden and Collaborative Coach Kyrie “Did you read my memo?” Irving on the same team.
Kyrie, Harden and Durant would be hilarious. That team scares no one.
I’m not a Nets fan but in what world would that team “scare no one”. 3 top 25 players with 2 arguably top 10. Who wants that in the playoffs
I’m assuming he’s referring to the revolving door on defense with Harden/Kyrie in the same back court.
This isn’t 2k.
If Wall and Cousins can regain their 2015 form maybe
As is I think they’d firmly in the lottery (altho w the plau in I guess you never know)
That trade is decent for Houston. Herro, Nunn, Robinson, Iggy, Olnyk, and a couple of first? Houston should do that in a heartbeat, get a couple of good young players, a few draft picks and salary flexibility going forward. Herro is no superstar but he can fill up a stat sheet.
Agreed, however the problem for Houston is a lack of their own first rounders. It would be a long rebuild.
Tyler Herro is not a good enough piece to give up James Harden.
Trades involving a superstar are rarely ‘fair’.
Harden has made it very clear that he wants out – it’s the ROCKETS choice if they want this dangling over their heads throughout the season or get it over with and get the best deal possible now.
The ROCKETS misfortune now, made the pre-season just a bit more exciting.
Depends on what you think the ceiling is on Herro
I’m not as bullish as some but it still beats a Levert centered deal
Idk I just don’t see any point to give him up and then subject myself to being a lottery team for the future. Literally every year there’s someone disgruntled. Rockets aren’t going anywhere anyway this season so why not wait to see if Embiid and Simmons doesn’t work out. Or maybe the Celtics decide to take another step. Hell given where there team is, I’d even consider just holding on to him. Look at the Lakers 2007. They could’ve traded Kobe but they smartly said F that, Kobe won MVP that season and the Lakers went to 3 straight finals.
That offer is flat insane. If anyone in the Miami FO actually suggests anything close to that package, they should be fired on the spot.
They’re hard capped, so if they actually want to do this — which I think is crazy, but whatever, it’s a star-effing league — they have to send out every dime of Harden’s salary, not 80% of it. Iggy, Olynyk, and Herro isn’t close to enough. Still $10m plus to go. They’d have to wipe out most of the team, and because they’re hard capped they couldn’t even pull in vet minimum guys. It would be catastrophic.
They’re hard-capped, but they’re not right up against their hard cap like last year — they still have some wiggle room to take on more salary than they send out.
But but but does Jimmy Butler essentially play the same position?
Also if the Sixers bite and trade for Harden, wouldn’t they have been better off keeping Butler in the first place
If the Sixers or Heat trade for Harden it would be replacing a peg with a peg
The hate for harden is insane. The guy is a top 5 player in the league, arguably the best offensive player of this generation. Guys like that don’t become available often, guarantee every team that could trade for him will check in.
People seem to forget he was 1 CP3 injury & game away from beating the best team of this era so not entirely sure where this narrative of him not winning/ hurting a team comes from.
Yes, he’s a diva but so is practically every other NBA star.
I don’t hate Harden, But there certainly isn’t a big market for him. Take a team like the Celtics for example. They could trade Brown, Smart and some picks for Hardem. But there is NO WAY the Celtics would. He just doesn’t have a market.
I guarantee you Danny Ainge would at least CONSIDER trading Brown and Smart for Harden. That’s just silly.
I don’t think they could get him for just Brown and Smart though so its prob moot
I am not arguing whether he would “consider it” I am saying it isn’t going to happen.
Wow. Exaggerate much!! Harden would hurt a team because he is selfish, and doesn’t play a minute of defense. When it is easy to score on a player, it negates his offense.
This is a dumb argument. No one is going shot for shot with an MVP level offensive talent so much that itd negate him. Also there are 4 other ppl on the floor who can play defense. Uh duhhh.
Same does your beloved curry – no defense all the time so it negates his offense which makes him useles by your logic.
Thanks for clarification how we should treat him either.
Made this argument in another thread: I don’t defend Harden’s antics YET he re-upped long term and now is asking out.
Through his asinine behavior it’s very possible Houston could end up with Ben Simmons because of it
Compare that with LeBron and Kawhi signing 1+1’s where every year their team risks losing them for nothing. In some ways Harden’s situation is actually MORE team friendly than generally considered
In Harden’s defense, they fired his coach, hired someone he didn’t really want, let the guy that made him a superstar go to Philly, and that roster isn’t very good anymore. When you think about what the Lakers did to them in the playoffs, even if John Wall and Boogie are healthy they aren’t contenders. So yeah he’s being a dick about it but I can see why he wants out.
Herro ceiling is an average starter
Then what is his floor? Because he would be an average starter at minimum right now.
Herro Floor has no meaning
This is the meaning
Rockets owner still target championships this season
IMO in value
1 current superstar = 2 current all stars
Herro floor do have meaning.
that is the meaning.
Rocket owner know Chinese boxing.
3 in hand 2 in Bush.
That made me laugh out loud, literally.
Maybe Silli wants to be read as a poet! He roots for NY… perhaps he is kin to creative people. Or at least advertising people. And is showing what an autistic or some such can do. It’s not all bad.
You can keep those “honest opinions” lol let’s just do facts.
Any deal for Harden needs Iggy and Olynyk for salary matching plus Herro will have to head to Houston as the headliner plus 2-3 firsts. I’ve seen Duncan Robinson and Nunn thrown around too
The SASpurs wouldn’t be interested in Harden because they like to move the ball around for the best shot available … Harden believes that his shot (wherever he may be standing on the court) is the best shot available.
That’s the thing. Morey says his shots are the most productive and he was the boss.
Heat could probably make this deal without giving up draft choices. Houston will obviously take the best deal offered and that will be driven by the best young players offered. They’re not gonna get Simmons.
Herro, Precious, Robinson, Olynyk, and Iggy along with a couple of firsts would be a darn nice deal if it happened. I’m not a fan of Nunn, but I guess some are.
The problem is if Houston wants that many players for Harden. Each one of those Heat players would require a Rockets roster spot. Meaning the Rockets would have to cut 4 of their players just to make the deal. I guess they could add 2-3 cheaper players onto the deal to the Heat in exchange for an additional 2nd rounder or 2.
If you look at the Rockets salaries. they only have 4 players other than Harden making big money. They could cut four guys with guaranteed contracts and not even feel it. link to hoopshype.com
Guaranteed 35 a game with no title @ 40-50 million a year. I’ll pass
The issue won’t be matching salaries, but value. What trade assets does Miami have? Herro is one, but how premium? A couple of remote 1st rounders in 5 and 7 years? Not going to help the Houston GM making this deal (most likely). Achiuwa? Depends, but at least he’s on a RSC. Robinson and Nunn? They’re a little older and RFA’s after this year.
Oh word?
Harden in South Beach is just asking for trouble.
I would be surprised if HOU doesn’t demand Bam be included.
I was advocating all these Heat players, including Adebayo, for Giannis… this was in the late bubble era. Funny to hear their names thrown around now for Harden. If Bam is assigned center then his value goes down. That has not been decided yet, but if so, he could match with Harden.
Bear in mind last year he had an on-court assistant in Meyers Leonard, and looked like he could take a Giannis PF role. As a 5 he will probably get more limited. Still good of course.
God no!
The following is the Rockets view
If Harden is $1.00
Then
Bam is $0.75 – rookie contract
Simmons is $0.70
Middleton is $0.65
When you add another player, Rockets would have to cut a 2nd check for that player in the future
So the 2nd player’s value usually is $0.05 or $0.10
You need center piece to succeed in trade
This level of players the teams can get from free agent market, not much value
Thybulle
Milton
Dinwinddie
LeVert
Donte DiVincenzo
Rubbish. Nobody left that good. If you meant at the start of free agency, then the selection is much better. But it is hard to say what Sillivan means usually.
#FreeTheBeard
As a Heat fan, I never want to see James Harden anywhere near this organization. To match salaries, and make it close to worth doing, it would take about 6 guys, and the Heat would have to at least also get back PJ Tucker. I dont even want to consider it though b/c I dont want to have to watch James Harden play more than I already do
only way you even consider it, as a Heat fan, is if its Iguodala, Leonard, Bradley, Olynyk, Herro/Nunn, maybe Okpala if necessary, the 2nd round pick in 2022, and the 2025 1st, and worst case, another pick in 2027, although they’re giving up significant pieces, and taking on all of Harden’s salary, so not sure thats necessary
for Harden, PJ Tucker, DeMarcus Cousins, and potentially Sterling Brown (if Okpala were included)
But even then I’d personally be salty, and I doubt I would see something like that happen when dumb teams would potentially offer more
You keep referring at some dumb teams, shall we assume you meaning MIA as one of them, right?
Harden for Hield,Harrison Barnes & Bjelicia makes more sense…
Nope not enough upside, Hield is really old for his experience and has little upside beyond what he has already done. Maybe a huge haul of picks would make up for that, but it’s always stupid to trade 4+ years of picks because ish changes so fast in the NBA.
NBA fans are the freaking worst. Harden is a clown obviously, but he is a first team all NBA player that makes him a top 5 player by definition. He is worth more than they will get for him, but this package is the minimum it could take.
The best thing the rockets can do is trade him for some good you talent. Having this hanging over the franchise’s head all year will drag the team down.
Unless…it motivates the rest of the squad to prove to Harden they are a contender and that he should stay. These guys are competitors. They wont let one upset player ruin a franchise. My scenario is far more likely, sorry to break it to you sugar
I’d rather play this season with our current guys, then make a play for Giannis. Unless the Heat are already sure that Herro will not ever be an All Star caliber player. they should not make this trade for what will essentially be a gamble on a star who very likely doesn’t fit our team and culture.