{"id":824197,"date":"2026-08-24T12:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T12:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/824197\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T12:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T12:32:09","slug":"what-next-for-miami-heats-nikola-jovic-after-thompson-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/824197\/","title":{"rendered":"What next for Miami Heat’s Nikola Jovic after Thompson deal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Q: Ira, what do you think of a trade involving Nikola Jovic for Max Strus? The salaries match, Strus is an expiring contract while Niko has four years left and the 3-point shooting and the aggressiveness of Max are way better than Niko\u2019s.\u00a0 \u2013 Luis, Boca Raton.<\/p>\n

A: You\u2019ve essentially made the case of why the Clippers would not do such a deal, most notably the difference in contract lengths. The Clippers \u2013 assuming that the Kawhi Leonard trade goes through \u2013 are in a transition period. That not only aligns with Max Strus\u2019 expiring contract, but also could have him as a valuable trade chip at the Feb. 11 NBA trade deadline. Further, a case could be made at this point that Nikola Jovic\u2019s positional fit might be of greater value to the power-limited Heat, rather than adding another wing, after already adding Tim Hardaway Jr. and Klay Thompson this offseason. In the case of Strus and Jovic, the trading deadline might be the more likely movement time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Q: Although they can be the same player, I think there is a difference between a scorer and a spacer. A spacer is \u201cignitable,\u201d someone you scheme for, guard all over the court and can\u2019t leave alone when defending. I think Pat Riley was holding out for Klay Thompson<\/a> because, while we had scorers and 3-point shooting, we didn\u2019t have the \u201cignitable\u201d starter Klay represents. \u2013 Michael, Boca Raton.<\/p>\n

A: Exactly. And it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that Klay Thompson would have to be a big-minutes starter. In fact, turning 37 in February, that hardly would be the best approach. But start him, see if he is cooking, and then go from there.<\/p>\n

Q: Do you think the front office can patch together enough two-way players\/buyouts\/undrafted or overlooked players to make it work this year (\u201cmake it work\u201d means at least conference semis)? I know we\u2019ve done well with unheralded players. \u2013 Phillip, Portland, Ore.<\/p>\n

A: Conference semifinals would mean being one of the last four teams standing in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Considering all the youth and picks the Heat have dealt for Giannis Antetokounmpo, I would think that would be the minimum expectation. For the first time in years, this is go-time for the Heat, and that would mean winning at least one playoff series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Q: Ira, what do you think of a trade involving Nikola Jovic for Max Strus? The salaries match,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":824198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[71475,2558,8173,71476,355,99],"class_list":["post-824197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ask-ira","tag-latest-headlines","tag-miami-heat","tag-miami-heat-blog","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}