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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto by Brian Fluharty\/Getty Images\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The proposed trade would send Daniel Gafford to the Miami Heat<\/p>\n
Andrew Wiggins<\/a> joined the Miami Heat<\/a> as part of the deal that sent Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors<\/a>. Wiggins, a former NBA champion, has two years remaining on his current $109 million deal,<\/a> with the final year being a player option.<\/p>\n It\u2019s that player option that could see the Heat trade Wiggins ahead of the February 2026 trade deadline. Currently, the franchise runs the risk of Wiggins opting out of his deal and hitting unrestricted free agency next summer.<\/p>\n With that in mind, Mark Morales-Smith of \u201cFantasy on SI,\u201d<\/a> has proposed a trade that could make sense for everyone involved. Morales-Smith envisions the Dallas Mavericks<\/a> being the trade partner due to Wiggins\u2019 defensive upside and championship experience.<\/p>\n The proposed deal would look like this:<\/p>\n Miami Heat Get:\u00a0Daniel Gafford<\/a>, PJ Washington<\/a> and a future first-round pick<\/p>\n Dallas Mavericks Get:\u00a0Andrew Wiggins<\/p>\n \u201cIf the Heat are determined to move off of Wiggins, this is a solid return,\u201d Morales-Smith wrote. \u201cGafford is a good center who averaged 12.3 and 6.8 last season. His presence at center is needed in Miami. He\u2019d slide in nicely in their frontcourt next to Bam Adebayo. Washington would be a direct replacement for Wiggins.\u201d<\/p>\n Gafford, 26, would give Miami a stronger presence in the middle of the floor. Furthermore, he would provide rim protection and a much-needed lob threat on offense. Pairing him with Bam Adebayo<\/a> in the front court would undoubtedly improve Miami\u2019s overall defense, too.<\/p>\n The Proposed Heat Trade Would Work<\/p>\n When looking at proposed trades such as the one above, the most important thing is ensuring it\u2019s viable under league rules. When running this trade through Spotrac\u2019s trade machine<\/a>, the trade idea is deemed a success. However, Miami would likely need to waive a player before finalizing the deal.<\/p>\n Fortunately, that would mean that if Miami and Dallas were to consider a trade of this nature, they wouldn\u2019t need to include a third team. The more front offices you get involved in these types of negotiations, the harder it becomes to get an agreement that works for everyone involved.<\/p>\n Gafford would be the star return for Miami. He\u2019s young enough to anchor the paint for the next five, six or seven years. Furthermore, he fits the current timeline along with Tyler Herro and Adebayo.<\/p>\n Heat Could Target Russell Westbrook In Free Agency<\/p>\n Regardless of whether the Heat decides to make a deal like the one Morales-Smith envisions, they could still look to add a veteran in free agency. That\u2019s why\u00a0Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report<\/a>\u00a0believes the Heat could potentially \u201crescue\u201d\u00a0Russell Westbrook<\/a>, who has been a free agent since leaving the Denver Nuggets<\/a> earlier this summer.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Miami Heat\u2019s point guard rotation is largely populated by combo or shooting guards,\u201d Bailey wrote. \u201cRight now, it looks like Tyler Herro could be the starter at the 1\u2026Having a real, veteran point guard on the roster could stabilize a second unit that figures to include lots of younger talents like Jaime Jaquez Jr.<\/a>, Nikola Jovi\u0107<\/a> and Davion Mitchell<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Westbrook would help solve some of the Heat\u2019s issues at the point guard position. He would be a strong presence off the bench. Miami\u2019s second unit is considerably young and inexperienced. Adding a former MVP could be the ideal way to add some balance.<\/p>\n Pat Riley has never shied away from acquiring aging talent. So, if Westbrook remains available in the coming weeks, Miami could emerge as the most logical landing spot.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAdam Taylor<\/a> is a basketball reporter covering the Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns for Heavy. He has also written for CelticsBlog, USA Today, Yardbarker and FanSided. Adam has a bachelor\u2019s degree in creative writing from Open University. More about Adam Taylor<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Heat\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo by Brian Fluharty\/Getty Images The proposed trade would send Daniel Gafford to the Miami Heat Andrew Wiggins…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-85846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}