The Miami Heat are reportedly going star hunting once again and are interested in Kawhi Leonard, according to Shams Charania of ESPN. Leonard is about to be 35 years old, the Los Angeles Clippers season has ended early again, and he has 1 year remaining at $50.3 million.
The Heat have been looking for a number-one option for a while, even when they had Jimmy Butler. I always thought that Butler was a number two on a championship team with the ability to rise to the occasion to be that number one, but that wasn’t something to bank on.
Out-of-body playoff experiences, having his three-point shot conveniently fall in the playoffs, and being so disruptive on both ends were eventually going to take a toll on him. There was a reason why Butler took his foot off the gas in the regular season because he put so much into the playoffs that he had to ramp up at his own pace.
Now in 2026, Butler and Miami have been split for over a year and a half. Can Leonard be their saving grace to get them to the heights that Butler propelled them to? Or will the Heat continue to be the boy who cried wolf and kept saying over and over that they’re interested in a star just to swing and miss again? Off the top of my head, there’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, Harden, Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving, Donovan Mitchell, and Bradley Beal, who all went elsewhere.
This could be the time for the Clippers to cash in on a couple of first-round picks to help the betterment of the future after the horrendous Shai Gilgeous-Alexander trade, now in hindsight. Los Angeles already traded James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers and got younger with Darius Garland. Can they do the same here with Leonard, who’s missed 62 games in the last two seasons, and as we know, health is a major concern for him.
Miami has nothing to lose; they’re stuck in mediocrity, and that’s the worst place to be. They aren’t bad, but they also aren’t good, which means they’ll never have a high pick while simultaneously not being able to compete for a championship. Leonard has one year remaining on his contract, and god forbid he goes down, at least they went down swinging.
Enough of the complacency, but your money where your mouth is, and bring a star back to the Heat. Free agency is basically non-existent nowadays; everybody re-signs, which is why you have to trade assets to get star-level talent.
Enough of Pat Riley not being willing to meet the demand of trades, trying to squeeze general managers out, giving them lackluster trade packages, and excluding the most random players in the process.
Leonard is coming off a season in which he averaged 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists, shot 50.5% from the field, 38.7% from 3, 89.2% from the free throw line, and had a career high 62.9% true shooting percentage. This would easily be the best player the Heat have had since prime LeBron James. If the opportunity is there, they better take it and run. These players aren’t usually available, and when they are, they have their warts, but you have to pounce on the situation if you’re Miami and have nothing to lose.
This Leonard trade, in my opinion, has to start with at least two first-round picks, and the Heat have three available in 2029, 2031, and 2033 on top of swaps in 2028, 2030, and 2032.
Player-wise, in order to match the money, Tyler Herro and his $33 million salary for 2026 would make sense in the deal. Now, a Herro and Garland backcourt wouldn’t be ideal defensively, but it’s a one-year thing, and it would be pretty good offensively.
On the other hand, Andrew Wiggins and his $30.1 million player option being moved would also theoretically make sense, and he’s coming off the best shooting season of his career at 31 years old. Wiggins is a perfect third option that can score at all three levels, is good defensively, not ball-dominant, and gets in where he fits in.
The Clippers would probably ask for Kel’el Ware in the trade, with him being a 21-year-old seven-footer oozing with potential, but Miami shouldn’t oblige, in my opinion. The Heat’s frontcourt for the foreseeable future should be Bam Adebayo and Ware together unless a trade for Antetokounmpo commences.
A couple of younger players Miami could dangle in this trade include Pelle Larsson, Jaime Jaquez Jr, or Kasparas Jakučionis. Larsson is disruptive on both ends with an improving jumper while being relentless on both ends.
Jaquez Jr. is in the running for Sixth Man of the Year really good at the rim, underrating playmaking-wise, but needs to develop some sort of outside shot.
Jakučionis is only 19 years old, surprisingly shot 42% from 3 on close to three attempts a game, but sometimes turns the ball over too much. Jakučionis became more confident as the season wound down, as he wasn’t passing up shots as often as he initially did and drove to the rim more evenly through contact.
A trade involving either Wiggins/Herro, two first-round picks, and one of the younger players in Larsson, Jaquez Jr, and Jakučionis makes sense for the older, often-injured, and rental in Leonard. The rest to match Leonard’s contract can be salary filler. The trade depends on what the Clippers want: do they want younger players and picks, or will they also take back some older players?
Lets see if the Heat can put their money where they mouth is or if they’ll continue to string their fans along, remain complacent, and stay in mediocrity.
If they’re able to trade for Leonard, their starting five in this scenario would be Davion Mitchell, one of Herro or Wiggins, Adebayo, and Ware. They would still need either a shooting guard or a small forward in this scenario, based on who’s getting traded, and could either sign a free agent or draft one if they keep this year’s first-round pick. If Herro was dealt, bringing back Norman Powell would make sense at the shooting guard spot.
Riley is an NBA legend; he’s done so much for the league overall, and obviously the Heat, but he’s also 81 years old. Even former players like Mario Chalmers are calling for Riley to “let go of the reins”, so he needs to go out swinging and finally bring back a star to Miami to make up for the recently infuriating moments.
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