Q: Ira, the best thing about the playoffs is Ant Man now being done. We saw Dwyane Wade talking to him during the playoffs. Time to recruit. \u2013 Sam.<\/p>\n
A: Except teams that come up short typically look to bolster around their leading man, rather than move in a different direction. Granted, frustration can lead to a player seeking greener vistas, but what about the two-time 10th-place Heat exactly would make Erik Spoelstra\u2019s team a green space at the moment for Anthony Edwards? Yes, there is a USA Basketball relationship there between Edwards and Spoelstra, but Edwards also has a contract with three more years to run. The most likely scenario would be Minnesota continuing to seek a better supporting cast. To a degree, that is what Milwaukee also should be doing for Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a>. The difference is Giannis could be entering the final year of his contract. Shy of Bam Adebayo (and likely not even that, with Rudy Gobert in place) is there anyone on the Heat roster that would get the Timberwolves to even engage regarding Edwards. Now, if Edwards were to create a narrative regarding relocation, that would be a different story. But that also is nowhere close to where we stand at the moment.<\/p>\n Q: Does Donovan Mitchell leave Cleveland if they lose Sunday? \u2013 Alan.<\/p>\n A: The unique part of doing this mailbag is the singular focus of how any and every NBA story could be related to the Heat, as with the question above. Now with Mitchell, he, like Giannis, can become a free agent after next season, with a player option for 2027-28, and also extension eligible. So, yes, there likely will be chatter in that regard should the Cavaliers fall short with their current build. Or . . . Cleveland could augment, perhaps even with Giannis<\/a>. So there is irony there, in that the door for the Heat could open with Donovan with Cavaliers failure, or the door to Giannis could slam shut with Cavaliers failure.<\/p>\n Q: Not the stinkin\u2019 Knicks. \u2013 Eddy.<\/p>\n A: Yes, it does look like the Knicks as the favorite in the Eastern Conference finals, based on the lengths the Cavaliers and Pistons have gone to get to this point. That said, the West winner likely will be a considerable favorite in the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Q: Ira, the best thing about the playoffs is Ant Man now being done. We saw Dwyane Wade…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3782],"tags":[3879,7,165,189,3880,307,152,3954,6,66,308],"class_list":{"0":"post-736711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-timberwolves","8":"tag-ask-ira","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-miami-heat","12":"tag-miami-heat-blog","13":"tag-minnesota","14":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","15":"tag-minnesotatimberwolves","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-timberwolves"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116589786792413117","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}