The Heat reportedly agreed to trade Goran Dragic to the Mavericks. The Mavericks reportedly agreed to trade for Kelly Olynyk and Derrick Jones Jr. from the Heat.
But Miami and Dallas didn’t agree to the same deals.
As a result, the Jimmy Butler sign-and-trade between the 76ers and Heat hangs in the balance. That deal would send Josh Richardson to Philadelphia and help the 76ers clear cap space to sign Al Horford, who opted out with the Celtics to get this big contract. So, the ripple effects are far-reaching.
What went wrong between the Heat and the Mavericks?
All this confusion and not a single Brooks involved. I’m not sure whose fault this is, but with Butler set to join them and Philadelphia counting on that, the Heat face a lot of pressure to get something done.
To acquire a maxed-out Jimmy Butler in a sign-and-trade, Miami must send out at least $15,997,024 of salary in addition to Richardson’s in the deal. Salaries of the maybe-involved players:
- Dragic: $19,217,900
- Olynyk: $12,667,886
- Jones: $1,645,357
The Heat must also stay below the hard cap ($138,928,000), which is triggered by acquiring a player in a sign-and-trade. That requires shedding even more salary, though it doesn’t have to be done in the Butler trade.
Stretching Ryan Anderson ($15,643,750 guaranteed next season) would help, but that can be only one aspect of the deal.
Meanwhile, teams like the Knicks, Clippers and Mavericks are filling their cap space. Miami is running out of places to unload salary.