![\"Dallas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/dallas-mavericks-v-miami-heat-miami-florida-november-24-klay-thompson-e1785279099804.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\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
NBA insider Jake Fischer said the Heat could explore a trade for Klay Thompson if the Mavericks continue to resist a buyout.<\/p>\n
The Miami Heat<\/a>\u2019s pursuit of Klay Thompson<\/a> may no longer depend on the Dallas Mavericks<\/a> granting him a buyout.<\/p>\n A stalled restricted-free-agent negotiation across the country could create Miami\u2019s clearest trade path.<\/p>\n ClutchPoints\u2019 Brett Siegel<\/a> reported that Dallas could use Thompson\u2019s $17.5 million expiring contract to acquire Clippers<\/a> restricted free agent Bennedict Mathurin<\/a>. The Mavericks are fewer than $3 million below the luxury-tax line and would need to send out salary to absorb Mathurin\u2019s new deal.<\/p>\n Siegel added that the Heat have been \u201clocked in\u201d on finding a way to acquire Thompson.<\/p>\n A three-team construction involving Miami, Dallas and the Clippers can work under the NBA\u2019s current collective bargaining agreement.<\/p>\n Heat receive: Klay Thompson<\/p>\n Mavericks receive: Bennedict Mathurin on a four-year, $90 million sign-and-trade contract<\/p>\n Clippers receive: Nikola Jovic<\/a>, Miami\u2019s 2027 second-round pick and Dallas\u2019 2032 second-round pick<\/p>\n This is a hypothetical framework, not a trade under active discussion.<\/p>\n Why This Heat Klay Thompson Trade Works Financially GettyKlay Thompson could help the Miami Heat fill the shoes left by Tyler Herro<\/a> from the perimeter.<\/p>\n A four-year, $90 million contract with 5% annual raises would give Mathurin a starting salary of approximately $20.9 million.<\/p>\n Dallas can acquire that salary by sending out Thompson\u2019s $17.46 million contract. The Mavericks would add approximately $3.5 million to their payroll, keeping them comfortably below the $209.015 million first apron required for a team acquiring a player through a sign-and-trade.<\/p>\n Miami would send out Jovic\u2019s $16.2 million salary and take back Thompson, increasing its payroll by only $1.26 million. The Heat are more than $10 million below their first-apron hard cap, according to Miami\u2019s current cap sheet<\/a>, leaving sufficient room to complete the deal.<\/p>\n Mathurin would be subject to base-year compensation rules for the Clippers. His outgoing matching salary would count as approximately $10.5 million \u2014 half his new first-year salary \u2014 but Los Angeles could still receive Jovic\u2019s contract because teams below the first apron can take back the outgoing amount plus $7.5 million in this salary range.<\/p>\n The numbers fit for all three teams.<\/p>\n Why Every Team Could Say Yes Getty\u00a0Nikola Jovic of the Miami Heat drives against Dalen Terry<\/a> of the Chicago Bulls<\/a> during the second quarter of the game at Kaseya Center on January 31, 2026 in Miami, Florida.<\/p>\n Thompson would address Miami\u2019s most obvious lineup weakness.<\/p>\n The Heat are built around newly acquired star Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> and longtime franchise cornerstone Bam Adebayo<\/a>, two dominant interior players who require shooting around them. Andrew Wiggins<\/a> and Davion Mitchell<\/a> are not high-volume floor spacers, while Tim Hardaway<\/a> Jr. is the only player who can consistently knock down the 3-point shot.<\/p>\n Thompson averaged a career-low 11.7 points last season but still made 38.3% of his 3-point attempts. Even at 36, defenders cannot casually leave one of the greatest shooters in league history.<\/p>\n Moving Jovic would carry risk, but his pathway narrowed after Miami acquired Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis<\/a> while retaining Adebayo and Wiggins. Jovic also struggled last season, averaging 7.3 points and shooting 36.6% from the field as the first season of his four-year, $62.4 million extension approached.<\/p>\n The Clippers would receive a 23-year-old, 6-foot-10 playmaker under long-term control plus two draft assets instead of committing more than $20 million annually to Mathurin. Dallas would turn an aging reserve into a 24-year-old scorer who averaged 17.6 points last season.<\/p>\n Miami would get the player it has pursued without waiting for a buyout Dallas has no intention of granting.<\/p>\n The cost would be meaningful. So would the fit.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAlder Almo<\/a> is a veteran NBA reporter for Heavy.com, covering the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors. He brings over 20 years of experience across local and international media, including broadcast, print and digital. He previously covered the Knicks for Empire Sports Media and the NBA for Off the Glass. Originally from the Philippines, he is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey. More about Alder Almo<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty NBA insider Jake Fischer said the Heat could explore a trade for Klay Thompson if the Mavericks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-366398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Miami](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/miami-heat-v-dallas-mavericks-dallas-texas-december-03-klay-thompson-e1785357194593.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Chicago](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/chicago-bulls-v-miami-heat-miami-florida-january-31-nikola-jovic.jpg\")
<\/p>\n