All things considered, Jimmy Butler's arrival in South Florida has brought a lot of success to the Miami Heat franchise. They have gone to a pair of NBA Finals and were seconds away from making a third, all in a five-year span. Doing so has come in serious underdog fashion, as those Finals runs featured the Heat reaching that far as a fifth and eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.
As impressive as it’s been to pull off such impressive postseason performances, Miami has come up short of the ultimate goal. These playoff memories will never be forgotten by Heat fans, but the fact that they have not gotten the job done has been painful.
Out of all the rumors and reports that have linked game-changing players to the Miami Heat, which ones could have really led to a championship?
With that being said, it has been clear that this team has been missing just one more key piece to get them over the hump.
Due to cap restrictions, the Heat’s front office has banked on health and internal growth to improve year over year. They very much like this roster and have made that notion known by repeatedly running back their core and giving them more chances to capture that elusive title. The problem is that this group may be running out of time as Butler approaches his 35th birthday.
However, that’s not to say that Pat Riley and company haven’t had their fair share of chances to look to the outside market to bring in help and more star power. Here are the three players who have been linked to the Heat in trade rumors that could have led to an overdue championship title.
Donovan Mitchell
In both 2022 and 2024, current Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell was connected to the Heat in trade rumors. Firstly and more realistically out of the two years, Mitchell was looking for a change of scenery from the Utah Jazz in the summer of 2022. His run in Salt Lake City has reached its peak after being drafted there years prior.
The offseason content that featured him and Bam Adebayo working out together often led to Heat fans salivating over the possibility of a Heat-and-Mitchell pairing. Once Mitchell became available on the trade market, there was mutual interest. But nothing ultimately materialized and he was sent to the Cavs.
Fast-forward to this past season, and Mitchell was due for a contract extension. It was widely speculated that if he didn’t end up signing with Cleveland, he would soon hit the trade market for the second time in two years. Reports again mentioned Mitchell’s interest in playing in Miami if he doesn’t come to a contract extension with Cleveland.
That pipe dream vanished quickly once more, as he came to terms with a lucrative new contact there that he couldn’t pass up.
Kevin Durant
Out of all the options of a third star coming aboard to complement Butler and Adebayo, Kevin Durant would have surely been the biggest needle mover. Durant, a two-time NBA champion and former league MVP, is viewed as a certified Hall of Famer and one of the greatest scoring talents of all time. His entire offensive skill set and length defensively would’ve provided the Heat with the most pitch-perfect superstar acquisition to lead to a championship.
Miami had their chance in 2022 and even pivoted to the notion of a Durant acquisition as soon as Mitchell wound up with Cleveland.
The coveted star forward became available after submitting a trade request from the Brooklyn Nets. There were off the court issues there with former teammate Kyrie Irving, and injury issues with James Harden, that stunted the Nets big three from reaching their own potential. It was clear that Durant’s tenure in Brooklyn didn’t go as planned and he wanted out sooner rather than later.
Miami had a prime opportunity to pounce on this situation, but the lack of showing more aggressiveness to get a deal done along with Brooklyn trying to force Durant to stick around made any potential trade fall through. He would eventually be moved at the following trade deadline to the Phoenix Suns, and Miami questionably wasn’t even involved prior to that Suns deal unfolding.
Damian Lillard
The most excruciatingly painful trade rumor as a Heat fan came with Damian Lillard just one summer ago. The Heat were coming off yet another Finals run at the time and were at their best (and possibly last) position to acquire that missing piece to finally win it all. Lillard formally requested a trade from the Portland Trail Blazers and specifically had Miami as his only preferred trade destination.
A potential pairing between the two parties would’ve provided Miami with a bonafide star backcourt scorer to a team that lacked point guard depth. There was also a public close relationship both on and off the court Lillard and Adebayo over the years.
The fact that no other teams were even on Lillard’s radar made it almost certain that the Heat were finally going to get a blockbuster deal done. In what was their last realistic chance at capitalizing on Butler’s window, the Heat and Lillard fumbled the opportunity.
Trade talks never happened in good faith as Cronin was reportedly disinclined to grant Lillard his wish. Instead, Cronin traded him to the Milwaukee Bucks in a three-team deal involving the Suns. The Heat were left empty-handed.
