In the summer of 2004, the Miami Heat orchestrated one of the more significant trades in franchise history. They shipped Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant along with a first-round pick to the Los Angeles Lakers and landed Shaquille O’Neal in return.

The O’Neal trade was a home run for Miami in the sense that he ended up being the second-best player on the 2006 title team behind only Dwyane Wade. O’Neal was the Heat’s second-leading scorer and led the team in both rebounds and blocks per game in the 2006 NBA Playoffs.

Fast forward all these years later, and Miami could soon make another trade for a superstar-caliber player. According to a report from NBA insider Jake Fischer on Saturday, Miami has the assets to put together an offer for the Phoenix Suns’ Kevin Durant that could be the “most enticing” option from Phoenix’s perspective.

It is worth noting, however, that the Heat supposedly don’t think the upside of a possible Durant trade is as much of a “slam dunk” as the O’Neal deal was.

“The Heat have had conversations with the Suns but, as far as I can gather, not a lot has changed yet from the trade deadline, when the Heat were ready to offer Jimmy’s [Butler] contract, a first-round pick and a young player, and the Suns ([Mat] Ishbia primarily) asked for ‘everything,’” Ethan J. Skolnick of Five Reasons Sports wrote via Discord. “Miami is still interested in Durant, but I would not call them ‘all in.’ No question Spo (Erik Spoelstra) wants to coach him; they have a strong relationship. The Heat don’t view this as much a slam dunk as the Shaq deal, when they knew with Wade (they believed he was a budding star coming off his rookie season) and Shaq they felt they could compete for the ECF. They like the idea of a KD, Bam [Adebayo], [Tyler] Herro trio for now, but yes there are some availability and age concerns about KD (who is 5 years older than Shaq was) and while still an elite offensive player, is not quite a build around player like they believed Shaq still could at the time, since Shaq operated inside and had to doubled. (This proved right, of course, even when Shaq slipped in production; just ask Avery Johnson why he deployed the let Wade cook strategy in the 2006 Finals).”

Skolnick added that he thinks the Heat would extend Durant if he would agree to that. Right now, Durant is on track to hit unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2026 after he gets paid nearly $55 million in the 2025-26 campaign.

“So the Heat will jump on this if it’s at their price,” Skolnick wrote. “And I do believe they would extend him if they acquire him, if KD wants an extension with them. (That’s something to consider btw; would KD be more willing to extend in MIA or HOU than MINN? And if he won’t extend in MINN, would the [Minnesota] Wolves be less inclined to offer so much for a rental, and could that push him back to MIA? Just something to watch.). Anyway, I am less confident the Heat ultimately land him than I was prior to some others’ reporting and my conversations over the past 24 hours… but I’m not ruling it out yet. I just don’t think the Heat will part with all their core young pieces, or even [Kel’el] Ware, for this.”

Skolnick also touched on one possible framework of a deal.

“One more thing: when I’ve floated out the ‘possible offer’ of [Andrew] Wiggins, Duncan [Robinson]/[Terry] Rozier, the #20 pick and a young player (not Ware), I haven’t been shot down,” he wrote.

“So I think it would be something in that space. Whether it gets to that, idk.

“The Heat don’t know how motivated the Suns are to get under the aprons …. but if they are, the Duncan contract has a lot of value. And Rozier would save them some too.

“This may be why friends of KD are saying the Heat need to ante up a future pick and Ware. I would be extremely surprised if Ware is involved.”

All things considered, it seems like there are still some reasons for skepticism when it comes to the chances of Miami landing Durant.

If the Heat were to add Durant, they’d quickly improve on paper, but there would still be a lot of question marks about whether the Heat would have what it takes to be one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference next season.

If the 2025 NBA Playoffs are any indication, the Heat as currently constructed are far away from legitimately competing for a title. Fortunately, a deal for Durant would indeed change Miami’s current construction.

The Heat didn’t pick up a single win during their stint in the 2025 playoffs, as they were swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the opening round. There’s a real argument to be made that the Heat should have missed the playoffs on purpose so the team could have kept its own first-round pick this year.