Should the Heat trade for Donovan Mitchell at all costs?

A Salt Lake Tribune article proposed a trade that would send three first-round picks and several players to the Jazz.

The Miami Heat are not in the NBA Finals, so we have weeks of transaction talk ahead of us. And the Salt Lake Tribune proposed a trade that would send Donovan Mitchell to the Heat.

I last wrote about Mitchell joining the Heat right after the 2022 trade deadline. The KZ Okpala trade opened up the possibility that the Heat could trade their 2022 first-round pick right after making the selection along with their 2023 pick. (Teams are forbidden from trading future first-round picks in consecutive seasons, but trading the pick right after it is made along with next year’s pick gets around that rule.)

That’s not what this proposed trade includes, of course. In fact, the Utah Jazz would probably rather have Miami picks years down the line, such as the 2027 pick. If the Jazz trade Mitchell to the Heat, they will expect the Heat to have late first-round picks for the next couple of seasons. But they would hope that as Jimmy Butler ages, the Heat underperform and send the Jazz better-than-expected draft picks.

Tyler Herro would have to go in a Mitchell trade. As I mentioned before, the Heat will have to decide whether Herro can be the fourth-best player on a championship team next year or if he’s the trade chip for a player like Mitchell. Even before his injury in the Eastern Conference Finals, Herro didn’t look the part in the playoffs.

Trading Max Strus and Robinson would mean that the Heat better find and develop another low-cost 3-point specialist for next season. Yes, Strus’ development this year made the Robinson contract look ill-advised, but the Heat aren’t perfect at development. Kyle Guy isn’t on the Heat anymore.

Miami would also probably want to keep P.J. Tucker, who has a player option for next season. Jimmy Butler praised Tucker throughout the season. A 37-year-old Tucker also wouldn’t appear to have much use for a rebuilding Jazz team, save to make the salaries work.