Would Joel Embiid To The Miami Heat Even Make Sense?

Most of the talk around the Miami Heat is their pursuit of Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard.

But apparently there’s another star in the mix: Philadelphia 76ers center and reigning MVP Joel Embiid. Hoops Hype’s Michael Scotto suggested the Heat would be one of the primary teams Embiid expresses interest in upon a trade request.

“Should Embiid ever demand a trade, it’s worth noting the Miami Heat has one of his good friends, Jimmy Butler, and a potentially intriguing trade chip in All-Star center Bam Adebayo to dangle, in theory,” Scotto said.

The main catalyst for this scenario is Jimmy Butler and Embiid are still close even after four years apart.

Upon hearing Joel Embiid put a 50 burger on the Celtics, Jimmy Butler: “Joel’s the MVP. He should’ve been MVP last year too.”
— Vincent Goodwill (@VinceGoodwill) April 5, 2023

Now of course, this is a very unlikely scenario. The Sixers probably wouldn’t trade Embiid to a Heat team fresh off a Finals run. Philadelphia loses their best player, while Miami sacrifices depth and draft capital. But the crazy nature of the offseason leaves any trade scenarios on the table.

So we’re gonna entertain it anyway.

On one end, pairing the league’s leading scorer with Butler under Erik Spoelstra would be hard to stop. The Heat would get their second superstar and Embiid would have a change of scenery.

On the other end, the Heat would likely have to trade Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, two cornerstones for their future. This would put them in win-now mode with a small championship window. With Embiid’s injury history and underwhelming postseason statistics, there are definitely concerns of underperforming.

So, it’s probably not the best to entertain this scenario, given its probability and benefits.

Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside the Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at jaydenshome14@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.