Miami Heat: Does it make sense to deal Andrew Wiggins? Now? Later? | Five on the Floor

Miami Heat: Does it make sense to deal Andrew Wiggins? Now? Later? | Five on the Floor

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Also, make sure to subscribe to Off the Floor for the most heat anywhere. All right, welcome back to Five on the Floor. Here’s today’s floor plan. I’m Ethan Skolnick. You can follow me at Ethan J Skolnick. And at Five Reasons Sports, I got Greg Sander. You can follow him at Greg Savander. We’re going to talk about Andrew Wiggins here again. And I’m going to give this caveat again at the start, which is that the Heat have been very consistent that they’re not moving him before training camp. Now, that’s not a caveat. That’s background information. I’ll give a caveat to that. Okay, the caveat is they’ve said that kind of thing before and then they made a trade. So I you know I I they were clear about this when we were out in Vegas. Okay, as this stuff was circulating at that time and there was only one writer really doing it at that time. One writer out in Los Angeles. Uh you know then it was quickly shot down about any about any trade of Andrew Wiggins prior to training him. But now you’ve got a couple more reporters who have joined in including Mark Stein and I guess his name is Dan Wy Walke. Um but he works out in Los Angeles as well. Kudos for you trying to pronounce his last name. I wasn’t even going to try. Well, I’m Alex’s editor now and he submitted the story and I thought I he spelled it wrong and he didn’t. So I I my apologies to Alex for that for actually double checking it. Uh but they there’s a couple more reporters are now reporting this stuff. Uh and Stein of course is a is a very credible reporter has been a national reporter for a long period of time. With that said, nobody’s reporting it from the heat side still. It’s all coming from either national guys or people from Los Angeles who are framing it in terms of what the Lakers might want to do because of course the Lakers are the team that everybody talks about. And of course there’s the LeBron Spectre and they just they just uh resigned well they just extended Luca Donuch and they sort of have to go for it now and they don’t really have a wing to defend the best players on the other team because they don’t want Luca and LeBron doing that. That player doesn’t exist on their current roster. And so Wiggins, who has done this at a high level in the finals and is also on a team that a lot of people around the the league consider to be sort of in a little bit of purgatory, to use one of the words that was used on our State of the Heat, Greg, that his name keeps coming up. And so that’s why we keep we’re going to keep addressing it even though I’m going to keep saying I’m not really hearing this from the heat side. But but Greg, I guess the qu you know, look, anybody at some point somebody can make an offer that is too they made us an offer we couldn’t refuse, right? Something like that, right? Like so it’s possible. So let let me just read you I’m not going to read the comments from those two reporters, but again, the idea is that the Lakers might want a player like this. Okay, so Alex wrote about this and I’ll give you his potential framework. Oh, here’s by the way, this this comes in from Wy. says, um, “According to team and league sources, the Lakers stance on roster’s improvement heading into the season has shifted, while LA had resisted taking on contracts that last beyond this season, which Wiggins applies there.” Luca’s multi-year commitment has nudge LA’s priorities in more aggressive directions. And so, that’s where this comes from. And then again, Stein had kind of suggested Wiggins as an option for the Lakers. So, Alex threw this out, okay, as a potential trade. This is not something that we’re saying has been offered. The Lakers get Wiggins. These numbers would work. Ruy Hachimura, who might have some utility to the Heat because he’s still a young player and and he could he could fill in there basically as a backup four um right away. Or if the wear thing doesn’t work out as a starter, he could technically start, I guess. You know, is he’ll be the backup five before you know it. Well, right. Exact. Yeah, you’re right. Exactly. Uh Maxi Cleber, who you know that’s salary Phil, but I mean he’s you know he’s been an effective shooting big man in the past when he played for Dallas and a future Jimmy really well. That’s true. Does a future top 10 protected first round draft pick rolling over to the next season if not conveyed on the surface if the Lakers offered that because it does seem like the do it was like more Dalton connect that we were talking about than the first round pick. If the Lakers offered Ruie a first top 10 protected, which you you’re not expecting to be top 10 anyway because the Lakers with Lucas shouldn’t be top 10 and and Maxi Clever would would you do it if you were the Heat? I guess that a simple question. So, one one important point of clarification is that draft pick, I think their most the the soonest tradable first that the Lakers have is either in 2031 or 2032 depending on scenarios it could roll over to that 2032 season. That feels like a long ass time from now, but I still would take the first round pick as an asset. I think the Heat aren’t in position to turn down uh first round picks being offered for players that aren’t expiring contracts where they’re taking on long-term money or something like that. Like I I think that kind of opportunistic uh uh moment to get a a player. Um it’s it wouldn’t really be about the players. And I see why, Alex, because pre-show I talked about that Gabe Vincent could fill in from a salary perspective here, but they probably Alex’s thinking is let’s not crowd the guard room further and bring front court uh players back. But it wouldn’t really be about the players. They would expire. The Heat would essentially gain future flexibility. But with all the extensions that you and I discussed just the other day, I I I don’t know if that flexibility will ever um actualize like it may end up going into extensions, etc. So, uh, I think the Heat would have to look at it because it would be similar to the norm deal in that like are you really going to turn down getting a first round pick when you are in a little bit of a transition moment where you could justify trading a a more win now player. Whereas, if they’re making a playoff push by the deadline, to me, that’s harder to sell a locker room on that we’re going to ship a guy away for a pick if you’re trying to compete and make and get to the playoffs. But you know that their mindset is that they think they’re going to compete going into training camp in some way, not for the championship, but in some way. And so trading Wiggins without Spo is probably not a direction they go for a first round pick that would be again a few years out. Although you’re right, they need to replenish their stash of first round picks if for nothing else than to have more tradable first. Right. Right. Well, that’s right. Well, here’s the other part of it, too, is that that that pick could have some value around the league because if the idea is, well, LeBron will be retired by then and Luca will be at least in his 30s now. By then, he could be finishing a three championship run with Joic, okay? Or something like that. So, you don’t know what’s going to happen, right? But but I I I I could see I could see the idea. Okay. Well, you you collect the pick and then it’s one more and then you can move it for something else and maybe some other team might see value in it. I I’m just dubious that they don’t do that. They don’t. That’s where I come around. That’s where that’s where I come down on this. And the other part of this is as much as I don’t t tend to trust them when they say a player is off limits or that they’re not moving a player by a certain time because Pat’s done that before. I mean, I’ll always go back to a nice dinner I was having in in West Palm Beach on in 1996, a trade deadline, my first year covering the beat. And I asked Pat, I said, “There gonna be any trades tonight?” “No, we’re not working on anything.” And at that point, I didn’t have a cell phone. I had a beeper. I had a beeper, okay? And I literally got I got a a message, okay, from that’s how old I am. And I got a message and it was uh you know, call the office. and the office was called and they had traded for Tim Hardaway and four other players and the trade that included what 10 players over three different teams. So I I do not I do not trust this kind of stuff anymore than I trust the injury information but okay I do trust the Heat’s absolute stubborn desire to see what a team looks like and we’ve seen that before. where I I remember 2014 15 where they just kept saying, “Well, we just get just get Norris and Josh McRoberts healthy and we get to see what that looks like with Bosch and Wade and Deng and and all and I think they played like seven minutes together the whole season. I they they will stick to this stuff.” And so if if there is a belief that Wiggins has been putting in the work and they want to see what it looks like with Powell that Wiggins may end up closing games at the four, they’re not going to make a trade in my view that would punt in some way further punt the season before it even starts for a first round pick that’s five years out. I I I just don’t or five or six years out. I don’t see them doing it. I I definitely don’t see them doing it for Ruie and Dalton Connect, but I I don’t still don’t see it for the first round pick. Yeah, from what I understand, Dalton Connect does it does not um equal even close remotely close to the value of a first round pick. Uh and I don’t think the Heat are particularly fans of of his game necessarily. So, I don’t know that he’s a prize in the deal. So, that’s out from my perspective. I think it was more about that future pick. But, I’m with you. I don’t see the Heat valuing um obtaining that pick now because I can also tell you that Wiggins has put in the work and he’s been uh really connected to the team in a way that I think when the season ended a lot of people were questioning like how um if it was the right fit and if he was comfortable there and if he wanted to um you know I want I don’t want to say like he didn’t want to be there but it was there was question marks about the fit uh with him and I just think that a lot of that from my understanding uh has been put to bed over this off seasonason like he’s he’s been super connected and I lean in your direction that there’s likely uh they’re as much as they need picks and the prudent approach if you look at their team is probably to acquire picks they’re going to likely try to compete first because truthfully there is a chance that they could trade him later on in the season if they choose. So, uh I don’t think they’re in a rush to do that. Let’s talk about that on the other side. Uh whether or not they could do it as the season progresses. Before we do, the week has progressed. We’re heading towards the weekend. We know what a lot of you guys are going to do. Um I’m not sure it’s necessarily prudent to do it on a boat this weekend considering what the weather has looked like, but you might have a drink or two or three or four. And watching that Dolphin game on Sunday, you might need a dozen. So, I want to tell you about a game-changing product that I use before a night out or a day out with drinks. It’s called pre-alcohol. Pre-alcohol probiotic drink from Ziotics. The first, the world’s first, not the nation’s first, the world’s first genetically engineered probiotic invented by PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking. Here’s how it works. When you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut. It’s a buildup of this byproduct, not dehydration. 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Remember to head to ziotics.com onthefloor and use the code onthe floor at checkout for 15% off. There aren’t a lot of times that a a contract uh of Wiggins Heft, which you know was still $30 million deal with a year left is traded at the deadline. I I went back and looked it. It’s rare. I mean, look, Jimmy was, but there were there were odd circumstances there and obviously there was an extension that had to come into play. Uh but it doesn’t happen a lot. It really doesn’t like and Rosier, I guess, right? a first round pick and he was under contract at pretty hefty number, but not Wiggins’s number. Um, I’m curious what his value will be at the deadline. I I I haven’t really pinned that down yet. I I some of it depends on his play, but I don’t think it depends on his play that much because people have seen him do it at a high level and some team may think, well, even let’s say the Miami stuff doesn’t work out. Let’s say he doesn’t get comfortable in Miami and he’s not consistent or he’s not defending the way necessarily he did. people take that into account, but I think they’ll look more back on and say, “Well, look, if we’re a team that is like one wing defender away, okay, you can also put the ball in the basket, we’ll take a shot at him, but still, it’s it’s not it’s it’s not a small shot like it’s not he’s not an expiring. It’s not like Powell’s contract, and you have to be somewhat committed to him, I would think, unless you think you can keep him for half a season and then you’re comfortable trying to flip him in the last year of his deal.” Do do you do you see him as a player that a lot of the team at teams at the deadline would be into if the Heat decide to if the season goes south and they just decide to go that direction? I think they could find takers, but where I think you’re going with this, and I’m 100% aligned, is that the value you would get in return would not justify um I guess what you would ra you’d rather get what you get from Andrew Wiggins on the court than trade him for the value. because like this first round pick talk that we’re having today, which um I just also want to be clear, I have not heard anything about them having conversations and that a first round pick is being offered. So, I just want to make sure I reiterate that. Yeah. Uh but in the middle of the season, I think you would get even less. And it would be very much based on circumstance. It’s like if there was a moment where you had a team that um that maybe had an injury and needs to get through a pocket of the season, so they trade for him because they’re all in and they’re at the top of the uh league in in payroll and they got to go for it. Like I don’t know. You could probably uh put to pull together some sort of scenario, right? But is it a is it enough where a team would the demand be enough? Would there be enough offers on the table for negotiations to take place where a team would be compelled to offer a first round pick? I don’t see it. And maybe I’m wrong. Maybe we’ll be proven wrong and Wiggins will be more valuable. But I would think that you’d want to get him now and get two full seasons out of him if that’s the archetype of a player that you want, that wing defender who also can provide scoring at times. Like I would think that any team that was interested in that at the deadline likely would be trying to uh fill those gaps. Now the other problem is when you’re up against the deadline from the Heat’s perspective if the perception is okay let’s say they extend Powell and let’s say they extend Yoic and let’s say Tyler’s having a strong season where which is what you want but it’s going to make him pricey chaotic by the way. Right. extending Norm before Tyler. You’re really going for the chaos this. Well, I we talked about that in the last episode, so people should listen to that. Anyway, but let’s let’s say Well, it’s possible. I mean, we both reported that that’s possible. Okay. So, so let’s say that they extend Norm, they extend Yoic, and Bam obviously is under contract, a significant number, and you know, they’re not moving him. So then you’re you get to the deadline and you’re starting to look at the Heat’s future and you’re like, “Okay, well, they’re going to be pressed up again in terms of tax, luxury tax in terms of and I know they’re they’re going to try to reset it this year so they’re not repeater and all that and we understand the reasons for that, but then they’re going to be pressed up against the aprons and all that kind of stuff again. Teams are going to know well they’re going to try to get off of Wigan’s $30 million of the last year of his contract maybe before it happens, right? because they got one more year left to deal with. That doesn’t increase their bargaining power. I wouldn’t think uh at that time, right? Like in terms of their leverage if teams know you got to dump the player. I I would be all of this goes back to this and I I it is such just an unfortunate situation and we look back at it and we were as wrong as they were. Uh but the idea that they gave up a first round pick uh for Terry Rosir, you know, considering how rare it is that that actually happens at the deadline. I know Dejante Murray did a couple years ago and I get it that he was two first round picks before his and but he sent three for Goran, but that was a different time. Was it three or was it two? I thought it was two and Norris, right? It felt like three just the way people talked about it for so long in that one pick that was the most valuable asset ever. Uh and and that was worth it. I mean that was it. It also happened at the buzzer of the deadline. Anyway, well and and they’ve been close on the buzzer of the deadline a couple times. They almost pulled this trigger on the Lowry deal the year before and then with nine minutes left all of a sudden the Olad Depot deal hit. Right. They ended up cycling back to Lowry the next year. They were in on Jimmy the previous year with Minnesota. Um, and then you know, well, who knows what happened there. Sado says that Pat hung up the phone on Tibs. I’ve never gotten that confirmed, but the re he asked for Bam. I I don’t know. But the the reality is it’s not easy to get a first round pick in the deadline. It’s just not unless again unless you have a team that just knows this is the guy. And in a lot of those cases, it’s either they’re going to go after a guy who is expiring so they don’t have to deal with a contract the next year or is expiring, but they know that they can get him to an extension. In Wigan’s case, the team is going to have to make a decision. Okay, is he worth it? Is he worth us giving up a first round pick for what he’s going to provide? When, by the way, in the last playoffs, he was a complete no-show. So, you can look back to 2021 or 2022, right, with the Warriors where he was very good and obviously was was terrific in the finals, but he’s in the last playoffs we saw him, we didn’t actually see him. Did he play? I’m not sure. So, teams teams may look at that a little bit and be like, “Okay, so we’re buying into that. and then we got another year of 30 million left. Are we going to be able to move this or are we comfortable letting it expire? There’s a lot of complications. I don’t think this is necessarily a quoteunquote slam dunk, apologies, that they would be able to move him for anything good at the deadline. Um, with that said, I I don’t think they’d be inclined to move him now. I I I I think I think he’s probably gonna finish this season with a heat, which means he’ll be traded tomorrow. Um, and I’ll get I’ll get a message on my beeper, which I probably still have somewhere. I’m surprised beepers haven’t came back. They should come back. I mean, they give you a little how they how the utility like the functionality doesn’t really make sense today, but it’s just, you know, how those things But they were cool though. Like they were cool. You like clip them to like your jeans or something like that when you go, “Oh, look at that.” And then you have to find a pay phone. People don’t know what that is either. You have to find a pay phone and call the office. I think I still remember the Herald’s 800 number. Uh I’m not sure that that quite exists. And you have to find and then collect calling all this stuff that like nobody understands. But it was great because you could avoid people like oh my beeper was off. Yeah. Like with cell phones you can’t like they want you to turn your reads on and all the rest of this garbage. You can’t hide from anybody. Anyway, point is I don’t think I’m going to say this but if I give a percentage to this it’ll get aggregated probably by me now with Sports Illustrated and I don’t want to do that. Okay. Uh, I think it’s I don’t think it’s likely he gets traded uh this season. I think he finishes this season with him. I would lean that direction. Would you lean that direction? I don’t know. He’s going to be here next year, but I I think he’s going to finish this season with him. I think so as well. I I mean, obviously, if things go off the rails in this season, if there’s injuries, things change. And so I I just I think that we have to qualify all of our statements as um nothing is set in stone, but I I’m with you. I think that this group uh is the more that I think about the pieces and the way that they fit for one year, they probably can make this uh competitive enough just to kind of bridge to the next season. And if they decide to wait on extensions, they also have the um ability to get really flexible from a salary perspective uh in the near future if they were to not, you know, reup a lot of these guys that we’ve talked about. So, there’s just a lot of stuff that can come down uh in subsequent seasons, but this year, I think it’s this group and they’re going to try to be as competitive as possible with young players in the mix, which I think is cool. We’re both on the record now. So, he’ll be traded tomorrow. Exactly. We’ll break in then. All right. Ziotics, use the code on the floor. Prize picks. Use the code FIV. Make sure you get on uh the off the floor Discord now. Um because we’re going to have a lot of content leading up to training camp. We are I think 18 days from what is likely media day based on past history. So, we’re we’re in the home stretch here. We’re getting there. All right, have a good night everybody. Thank you for listening to the five on the floor on the five reason sports network. After all, someone needs to listen to my dad.

With more reports out of Los Angeles that the Lakers are interested in a player like Miami Heat forward Andrew Wiggins, should the Heat consider it? And for what? And when? Ethan Skolnick and Greg Sylvander discuss.

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