The Miami Heat haven’t gotten off to the start of the season they wanted. They’ve been outhustled, and it seems like Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro could use some more help in the offensive end of the floor.
Victor Oladipo has yet to make his season debut, and his return seems far from imminent. Max Strus has been a streaky contributor, and Kyle Lowry is far from the player he used to be before arriving in Southern Florida.
With that in mind, Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra could dig deep around the league in their pursuit of talent. And, according to Thomas Darro of Heavy, that questcould lead them to New York Knicks‘ Julius Randle.
NBA Rumors: Miami Heat Could Trade For Julius Randle
(via Heavy)
“The Knicks would not trade him just for cap space, just because he got the big contract. Remember he is a CAA guy, and CAA is Leon (Rose’s) old agency. But sending him back to the Lakers would be something both sides would probably welcome. But what are the Lakers going to give back, Russ (Westbrook)? The Knicks don’t see Randle as that much of a problem that they need to dump him. If the Lakers included one of their picks (2027 or 2029 first-rounders), that would change the Knicks’ thinking but it is hard to see the Lakers doing that.
Miami is probably the big team that will be looking for a power forward and he would at least be interesting there with Bam (Adebayo) and Jimmy Butler. They’d have to make up for him on the defensive end, but they are good at scheming that way and they’ve been really bad on the offensive end. The Knicks would have to take back (Duncan) Robinson and a couple of their young guys like (Omer) Yurtseven and (Nikola Jovic), something like that. The Knicks would have to trust Obi (Toppin) to take that spot, too. You could make it work but it might not be the best thing for either side, really,” the executive told Heavy Sports.
Randle hasn’t been the same player since his All-Star season, but some believe all he needs is a change of scenery to thrive again. The Heat have always made the most of misfits and outcasts, so they might as well try and take a risk on him.
