Heat Could Call 76ers for Joel Embiid, but a Deal is 'Difficult to Envision'

After acquiring Jimmy Butler through a trade last summer, the Miami Heat geared up for a 2019-2020 NBA season with championship aspirations despite what the public thought. While they almost shocked the basketball world this season, Miami came up short against the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2020 NBA Finals.

Next year, the Heat expect to be back in championship contention, but they want to add another star to increase the odds of winning it all. Throughout the year, all of the talks have been about the Miami Heat targeting a big such as Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, but there are other prospects on the radar as well.

Recently, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald pieced together several players who the Heat could look to add for next season. Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid was one of them. While Miami would have to wait a couple of years to sign Embiid off the free agency market, trading for the Sixers' big man could be an option. However, the chances of a Sixers-Heat trade involving Embiid are pretty slim.

"While Embiid’s tweets suggesting he misses Butler has raised hopes of some Heat fans," Jackson wrote. "It’s difficult to envision a Heat/76ers trade, with Philadelphia very likely to demand [Bam] Adebayo and [Tyler] Herro in such a scenario. This might need to wait until free agency in 2023 if Embiid still hasn’t won big by then."

Embiid made it painfully obvious he missed Butler during the 2019-2020 season. Therefore, the Sixers are searching for players to fill that void this offseason. Deep down, Embiid could want to force his way out of Philadelphia and down to Miami, but the Sixers currently don't have any plans to deal away the 26-year-old All-Star. 

On the other hand, Miami feels the same way about their big, Adebayo. After emerging as one of the NBA's best bigs in 2020, Adebayo has reportedly become untouchable in any trade talks involving the Heat. Considering the Heat want to keep Adebayo, and the Sixers aren't rushing to trade Embiid -- a Miami-Philly deal is unlikely to happen this offseason. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_