NBA Trade Idea Sees Heat Trade for $195 Million All-Star

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Ashish Mathur | Last updated May 8, 2025 5:07 PM ET

After the Miami Heat were swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the 2025 playoffs, Bam Adebayo said he expects Heat president Pat Riley to make "a lot of changes this summer."

Miami lost Game 3 to Cleveland by 37 points and Game 4 by 55.

In the wake of Adebayo's comments, Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report proposed that the Heat make a trade with the Utah Jazz this offseason.

Swartz proposed that the Heat trade Nikola Jovic, Andrew Wiggins, Terry Rozier, Duncan Robinson and a 2025 first-round pick to the Jazz for Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson.

"Markkanen, 27, has averaged 23.0 points and 7.7 rebounds on 38.0 percent shooting from deep the past three seasons for the Jazz," Swartz wrote. "Sexton, 26, put up 18.4 points on 40.6 percent from three last year, while Clarkson, 32, is a recent Sixth Man of the Year award winner who chipped in 16.2 points per game off the bench in 2024-25.

"All three would give Miami an infusion of talent while allowing the Heat to keep their main guys."

The headliner in this trade is Markkanen, who signed a $195 million extension last summer. The forward will make $46.4 million next season.

A one-time All-Star, Markkanen averaged 19.0 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists this season for the Jazz while shooting 42.3% from the field, 34.6% from 3 and 87.6% from the free-throw line. He won the 2022-23 Most Improved Player of the Year Award.

The Heat haven't won a championship since 2013. They reached the 2020 and 2023 NBA Finals with Adebayo and Jimmy Butler, but Miami lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020 and the Denver Nuggets in 2023.

It will be fascinating to see if the Heat make a blockbuster trade this summer after trading Butler to the Golden State Warriors in February after the small forward requested a trade.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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