NBA Trade Rumors: Latest Buzz on Hassan Whiteside, JR Smith and More | Bleacher Report

While the 2018 NBA free-agent pool has been drained to the size of a puddle, the trade market still features potential impact acquisitions for clubs that haven’t completed their offseason shopping.

The question is whether the suitors see these reportedly available players as being worth both what they’re paid and what they would cost in a transaction.

While each comes attached to a significant contract, the group also features a former All-Star, a multiple stat-category leader and two players with world titles under their belts.

Let’s take a closer look at who are said to be up for grabs.

Miami Heat Have Three Players on Trade Block?

Save for perhaps the most ardent supporters in South Beach, few look at the 20181-9 Heat and see championship potential in this group.

While that’s true for many clubs, most non-contenders aren’t saddling as much as $126.9 million in salary commitments for both this campaign and the next. 

It comes as little surprise, then, to hear Miami would be willing to move three different eight-figure players.

“We’ve been told by two NBA general managers that the Heat has made Tyler Johnson, Hassan Whiteside and Dion Waiters available in trade talks this summer,” Barry Jackson reports for the Miami Herald. “[…] The Heat hasn’t found an attractive trade market for those three players.”

It makes sense for the Heat to scour the market in search of clubs coveting any member of the trio.

Whiteside was overwhelmed by injuries and frustration last season, seeing his floor time sliced to its lowest level in three seasons. Johnson, a reserve with an underwhelming career 14.1 player efficiency rating, is about to have his salary balloon to $19.2 million for the next two seasons. And Waiters, who’s one year into a four-year, $52 million deal, shot just 39.8 percent before being shut down for ankle surgery.

Heat president Pat Riley said the club hasn’t offered Whiteside “to anybody, really,” per Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel, and the club’s payroll reflects the 73-year-old executive’s desire to compete sooner rather than later. Whiteside, the Association’s top shot-blocker in 2015-16 and best rebounder the following year, would likely help that effort more than whatever Miami can expect to get in return.

That said, the Heat are also heavily invested in other frontcourt options. They grabbed Bam Adebayo with the 14th pick last summer, then spent $110 million on Kelly Olynyk and James Johnson. Granted, some of these players can play the 4, but different pairings may lack lateral quickness on defense or outside shooting on offense.

So, it’s easy to assume if Miami could find a way out from under the two years and $52.5 million still owed to Whiteside, the organization would at least consider it. Given the logjam among the Heat’s perimeter group—which may still include Dwyane Wade at some point—there are similar motivations to explore moving Waiters and Tyler Johnson.

But if the market isn’t interested, the Heat’s hands may effectively be tied.

Cleveland Cavaliers Shopping Two Veterans?

While offseason change can be invigorating, it’s more likely to haunt the 2018-19 Cavaliers.

Gone is LeBron James, not only their best player in franchise history (maybe the best player period), but also their golden ticket to five NBA Finals and the only championship they’ve ever claimed. Outside of locking up Kevin Love through 2022-23 and spending the No. 8 pick on Collin Sexton, Cleveland has done the rest of its offseason work on the fringes.

Extending Love signals an obvious desire to keep the Cavs as competitive as possible during their post-LeBron haze. The longer one examines the roster, though, the more it seems like rebuilding might be imminent sooner than later.

Cleveland isn’t taking that plunge (yet). It is, however, willing to part with two veterans if the right deal comes along, as Cleveland.com’s Joe Vardon explained on the Wine and Gold Talk Podcast (via Sporting News‘ Jordan Greer):

“[The Cavs] will trade [Kyle Korver] so long as they get a first-round pick that they do not currently have back. The Sixers wanted to trade Jerryd Bayless straight up for Korver, which just makes absolutely no sense for the Cavs to do that right now.

“… The Cavs, of course, would be open to trading [J.R. Smith] if they could. They have not been able to so far. It’ll be interesting to see what role he has coming into camp.”

Korver and Smith both have guaranteed deals for next season, then partial guarantees (totaling $7.3 million) for the following year. Neither seems easy to deal.

Korver’s three-point accuracy (career 43.14 percent, sixth-highest of all time) has helped him age relatively well, but Father Time has limited his defensive mobility. Smith, who’s 32 but already approaching his 15th season as a former preps-to-pros leaper, hasn’t had an average PER since 2012-13 and finished last season third-worst in the category among players who logged 2,000-plus minutes (8.5).

Maybe the Cavs can find a market for them—Korver is theoretically interesting, although a first-rounder seems an optimistic target—but both seem most likely to at least open the season in Northeast Ohio.

                

Statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com. Salary information obtained via Basketball Insiders.