The Phoenix Suns are still aiming to move Jae Crowder before the start of the regular season, with the team clearly missing the value of him, or any potential replacement, through the opening two games of preseason.
There’s much conjecture of what the Suns should do with the 32-year-old forward; simply trade him for the best possible package, or also take into account the contending status of the potential team he’s headed to.
The Miami Heat’s roster makes it almost impossible for them to build a trade package for Phoenix Suns veteran Jae Crowder.
The Athletics’ Shams Charania reported the Heat could have interest in Crowder, with the wing having previously played a key role in the team’s run to the 2020 NBA Finals.
"Sources tell me that both the Suns and Crowder are now working toward finding him a trade out of Phoenix...Look for teams like Boston, Memphis, Dallas, Miami."
— The Rally (@TheRally) September 26, 2022
NBA Insider @ShamsCharania reports on the Suns looking to find a trade partner for veteran forward Jae Crowder. pic.twitter.com/sAVkxXumh8
Unfortunately for the Heat, there’s little capacity to be able to acquire Crowder, at least in the short term. Miami have a very top end roster financially, headed by Jimmy Butler ($37.6 million), Bam Adebayo ($30.3 million) and Kyle Lowry ($28.3 million). They’ve also recently extended fourth-year guard Tyler Herro whose four-year, $130 million deal will kick in from next season.
Miami are already over the tax and therefore have to give up equivalent salary to acquire Crowder and his $10.1 million expiring contract. They do have three players who could work in combination – Victor Oladipo ($8.7 million), Caleb Martin ($6.4 million) and Dewayne Dedmon ($4.7 million). The issue here is they’re all recently signed free agents that can’t be traded till midseason.
Aside from that, every other player is on a rookie or minimum deal, except for one player – Duncan Robinson. The sharpshooter still has four years and nearly $75 million left on his contract, one that most have evaluated as being of little value. It’s highly unlikely the Suns would be interested in taking on Robinson, let alone the fact they’d have to aggregate another salary on top of Crowder.
Miami might be one of multiple teams interested in trading for Crowder, but don’t expect him to be rejoining the Heat anytime in the near future.