Where the Miami Heat can pivot if the Giannis chase fails

The Miami Heat are doing what they can to improve their positioning in the NBA arms race. The priority is pursuing Giannis Antetokounmpo, yet that doesn’t mean it will happen even if reports say he wants to be in Miami. After all, the team did lose out on Damian Lillard because the Portland Trail Blazers didn’t like their offer, and he wanted to be in Miami, too.

If the committee needs to pivot, Kawhi Leonard, who is on the last year of his deal for the Los Angeles Clippers, is another option, but it would take offering someone valuable: Tyler Herro, the one-time All-Star (2024-25) who is also on the last year of his deal, and Nikola Jović, a project a player at this point.

Management has always been reluctant to include Herro in a deal, but keep in mind that the brain trust once made drastic changes, trading Jamal Mashburn and P.J. Brown and other pieces for Eddie Jones and Anthony Mason plus scraps.

That move was made because Pat Riley thought it would bring them closer to contention, before Alonzo Mourning got sick. Bringing someone like Leonard would not be a lateral move, and having that type of player is the only way the Heat will be able to compete with the top Eastern teams.

Despite Herro turning 27 years old in January, he is an 82-game player, and his peak will never come close to what Leonard is now, soon to be age 35 on June 29. Keep in mind that Leonard averaged 25 points nightly on a 59.8 effective field goal percentage in his last playoffs (2025, seven games) against the Denver Nuggets, and had his highest-scoring regular season in 2025-26 (27.9) on the third-highest efficiency of his career..

Time to Move On

In the 2025 postseason, Herro’s impact was diminished against the Cleveland Cavaliers because he couldn’t guard at a high level and score like he didn’t in the regular season. Part of the reason for that is he is has short arms and gets blown by or overpowered. That was his sixth playoff run, yet it wasn’t as influential as the one from his rookie year in the bubble, when he wasn’t being guarded like a main option.

Aside, including him in the deal would give him a fresh start and it would make his new contract LAC’s problem, which would spare the Heat the awkwardness of having to upset him and his representation by refusing a large number.

Naturally, there is a concern given Leonard’s injury history, and how he hasn’t played at least 70 games since 2016-17. Any team that has him has to carefully monitor his health so he is fresh later in the season. But Herro’s absences have piled on in two of the last three seasons because of injuries, too.

Think about how Jović was unplayable most of the time, and how well the team played without Herro, before his first return (11-6). Of course, that's a small sample size, yet they weren't great with Herro and adding Leonard to that mix creates a significantly stronger team. The best part about this swap, if LAC accepts this hypothetical, is that the Heat would be able to avoid using their modest stash of FRPs.

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