Nikola Jovic reveals it was ‘strange’ to be included in KD trade rumors this summer

Miami Heat’s Niko Jovic recently revealed what it was like being involved in the Kevin Durant trade rumors earlier this offseason.
(Photo via Getty Images)

At the beginning of this summer, the Miami Heat were well positioned to land their next franchise superstar in Kevin Durant.

Unfortunately, Pat Riley and the Heat front office struck out. Which has been a repeated issue in their deal making skills over recent years. Miami was listed as a preferred destination for Durant, and the sweepstakes came down to between them and the Houston Rockets.

Ultimately the Rockets would go on to evidently beat out the Heat’s final trade offer— putting Miami as the runners up for the future Hall of Famer’s services.

And just how close were the Heat from pulling off welcoming Durant to South Florida? They were essentially a Nikola Jovic away from getting it done.

Miami’s final offer, reported by the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson, included Andrew Wiggins, Terry Rozier, Haywood Highsmith, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and this year’s 20th overall pick (which would turn out to be Kasparas Jakucionis). The Phoenix Suns countered with that same haul— but with the addition of Jovic and a future pick-swap.

As Jovic has played in the Euro Basket this offseason, he was recently interviewed on how it felt to be part of all the KD trade drama. The source for the interview can be found here.

“It was strange… Rumors started, you don’t know who to trust. I didn’t believe the media, but I was in contact with my agents, and they told me there was a possibility of a trade. They told me those weren’t fake rumors, that teams were involved and of course I didn’t feel great about it.”

“We’re talking about one of the greatest players ever, Kevin Durant. No one from the organization ever approached me and said it was true. It came out somewhere on Instagram, and later, no one explained to me why I wasn’t traded. I guess that’s normal in the NBA.”

“There definitely was a possibility, but in the end, it didn’t happen, and of course I’m glad.”

— (via Basketball Network)

In hindsight, the Heat opted to choose between potentially 15+ years of developing Jovic’s untapped potential and talent over going all-in on a brief three-four year window of Durant.

Whether that strategy will pay off for Miami is yet to be seen.

However, the rest of that trade package outside of Jovic seems to be fair assets that the Heat could have easily parted with. Highsmith was eventually traded in a salary dump anyway recently, along with Rozier and Jaquez both seeing themselves outside of coach Erik Spoelstra’s rotation at times during last season.

Sure, the draft compensation could have also bit them, but rejecting an opportunity for someone like KD to represent the organization is assuredly worth giving up on a 20th overall draft-pick project and pick-swap. Durant could have instantly elevated Miami to contender status in a wide open Eastern Conference this season.

Not to mention they could’ve taken advantage of Durant’s window to sharpen the edges with roster re-tooling over the next few years. But the common denominator was essentially Jovic.

The Heat have been high on Jovic ever since they drafted him.

The improving fourth-year forward is going to need to be a true impact player moving forward to justify letting another star acquisition slip through this front office’s fingertips.

Nikola Jovic reveals it was ‘strange’ to be included in KD trade rumors this summer

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