The Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers find themselves in two distinctly different situations heading into next season. The Heat have had a quietly solid offseason, including adding 20-point-per-game scorer Norm Powell for a suspiciously low price and bringing back Davion Mitchell. Still, they are looking to make bigger moves down the road.
According to NBA insider Marc Stein (subscription required), the Heat could still be open to trading Andrew Wiggins. Moving him would seem like an odd move, despite him being a polarizing player, but there is some logic to trading him.
Wiggins has a $28.2 million player option for the 2026-27 season. He might not pick that up with him potentially seeking a long-term deal. But if he does, then that would hurt the Heat’s plans for cap space in 2026.
That is where the Lakers come in. They also have designs on having max cap space galore next summer but could sacrifice some of that for a player who’d help them. Next up, we’ll take a look at a potential Heat and Lakers trade.
What could a Heat and Lakers Andrew Wiggins trade look like?
The trade itself is simple enough. Wiggins for Rui Hachimura, Maxi Kleber, and a second-round pick. Hachimura isn’t quite as good as Wiggins is, nor does he provide the Heat with a starter who can capably defend the game’s best wings.
Still, he would give Miami flexibility with him and Kleber being unrestricted free agents after next season. That would guarantee them having at least $28 million extra in cap space they may not otherwise have access to if they kept Wiggins. Having that cap space with really only Trae Young to spend it on might not seem like the smartest move.
However, giving Pat Riley plenty of cap space to work with is dangerous for the rest of the NBA. He could take on salary in exchange for picks while seeing if his core of Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo, and Kell’ell Ware turns into something. Or he could use that cap space to try and trade for a star, i.e., Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Would the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers agree to the trade?
For the Lakers, they did add former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, but he hasn’t been healthy for two years. If healthy, Smart, Jake LaRavia, and Deandre Ayton could help L.A. on defense but perhaps not enough to get them to a top-10 level.
Wiggins would give them yet another defensive piece. When paired with their other new additions and a potentially motivated Luka Doncic, that could make them far better than expected on that end of the floor.
He might be a frustrating offensive player, but it’s fair to say he’s better on that end of the floor than Hachimura is, giving the Lakers plenty of reason to do the deal. The Heat have reasons to do the deal as well. But with training camp starting in less than a month, it would make sense for a potential trade to happen sooner than later for both sides.
