![\"Kyrie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1920x1080-2026-06-05T210052.622.png\")
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Kyrie Irving of the Dallas Mavericks looks on during an NBA game.<\/p>\n
The Miami Heat<\/a> are going to be elite defensively in their first season with Giannis Antetokounmpo. However, the jury is still out on whether they can muster up a quality offense to compete with reigning NBA champions New York Knicks<\/a>, new East powerhouse the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics.<\/p>\n One blockbuster trade idea could flip the script for Miami, pairing Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo with Kyrie Irving to build a more well-rounded team. It would require the help of the LA Clippers, who would be rewarded with the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>\u2018 precious 2029 first-round pick, which the Mavericks received as part of the Luka Doncic trade.<\/p>\n Heat Trade Idea Lands Kyrie Irving<\/p>\n Heat would receive: Kyrie Irving<\/p>\n Mavericks would receive: Darius Garland, 2027 2nd-round pick (via OKC)<\/p>\n Clippers would receive: Andrew Wiggins, Davion Mitchell, 2029 1st-round pick (via LAL), 2027 2nd-round pick (via MIA)<\/p>\n Why the Heat Do It<\/p>\n The losses of Andrew Wiggins and Davion Mitchell will hurt. However, the Heat should be open to swapping quality defense for quality offense, given that Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo are going to sustain their high level of defense regardless. Furthermore, a backcourt of former ex-champions Irving and Klay Thompson will not be bad defensively even at this late stage of their careers.<\/p>\n A starting unit of Irving, Thompson, Tim Hardaway Jr. (or Bobby Portis), Antetokounmpo and Adebayo should have a lot of shooting and defensive versatility.<\/p>\n Why the Mavericks Do It<\/p>\n The 26-year-old Darius Garland projects as a better fit with the young Mavericks core of Cooper Flagg, Morez Johnson Jr., Dereck Lively II, Max Christie, John Poulakidas, Moussa Cisse and Zaccharie Risacher. The two-time All-Star guard can assume the role of a leader on the Mavericks while returning to the role of a pure point guard.<\/p>\n Per insider Marc Stein<\/a>, the Mavericks remain hesitant about holding onto Irving, swatting trade calls for the 9-time All-Star. However that hasn\u2019t stopped rival teams from expecting Irving to be made available at some point before the Feb. deadline.<\/p>\n \u201cThe primary factor fueling that curiosity, of course, is that fact that Irving is 34 and Mavericks star forward Cooper Flagg is 19. Not your average age gap between the team\u2019s two best players,\u201d Stein reported last month.<\/p>\n Why the Clippers Do It<\/p>\n The Kawhi Leonard salary cap circumvention scandal has left the Clippers with a bare draft cupboard for the foreseeable future. They can use all the help they can get to get their future back on track. An incoming 2029 first-round pick (via the Lakers) and a second-round pick from the Heat is a start.<\/p>\n The hypothetical trade carries very little risk \u2014 Mitchell ($12.4M) is on an expiring contract and Wiggins won\u2019t be hard to move at a later date due to his budget-friendly deal<\/a>. The 2022 NBA champion signed an extension with the Heat this offseason that will pay him less than $17M per season through 2028-29.<\/p>\n With Mitchell and Wiggins off the books, the Clippers can continue to rebuild around new franchise star Keaton Wagler Jr. and the rest of their young core.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSai Mohan<\/a> covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sportswriter with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit and more. More about Sai Mohan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Kyrie Irving of the Dallas Mavericks looks on during an NBA game. The Miami Heat are going…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":896561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-896560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896560","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=896560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/896561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=896560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=896560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=896560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}