The Miami Heat were not mentioned as a preferred destination when James Harden demanded to be traded out of the Houston Rockets. Now the latest reports are saying the South Beach franchise is dropping out of the race to sign The Beard for next season's campaign.
The claim was made by Florida reporter Ira Winderman, saying that if there were discussions between the Rockets and Heat on Harden, "they were never more than cursory," meaning the talks were not expected to reach a serious level.
That being the case, it seemed a missed opportunity for Miami. It would have been interesting to see how Harden, who is the league's three-time scoring champion, will perform with Heat superstars Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo.
Not that the roster is crying for an upgrade but having Harden around is certainly a boost. According to Fadeaway World, the trio will be a menace for teams wanting to dominate the Eastern Conference. Already, the Butler-Adebayo tandem is a scoring machine, and getting the 2018 MVP to the picture will only make for a stronger offensive weapon for the squad of Erik Spoelstra.
But it looked like there is no rush on Heat's part to bring Harden over. The team pulled a surprise last season by advancing to the NBA Finals and it seemed Spoelstra has made the decision to keep his winning combination mostly intact.
Or the franchise is merely biding its time. As Winderman noted, the same team took the stance of not making the hard push on Butler in 2018. But the Heat made the move and effected a sign-and-trade when the Minnesota Timberwolves sent the star to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Butler ended up wearing the Heat uniform and that happened while the team supposedly cooled down on its interest to trade for Harden. Clutch Points said it could happen again as history would show but for now Miami would like the speculations on Harden to quiet down a bit.
It's possible too Spoelstra is not too keen on making a big change on his lineup. In pursuing the Rockets superstar, it's only expected that Houston will demand the sun and moon to let go of a player with Harden's caliber.
To be sure, losing one of his stars or two might be worth the sacrifice to sign Harden but Spoelstra seemed to be choosing stability for now. The decision is not strange at all as the Heat nearly scored a title win with the same roster so why fix something that is not broken and perfectly working.
In a recent interview, Butler said his teammates are not even discussing the possibility of having Harden on their side in the coming days. The team is focused on reaching the Finals again and bring home the Larry O'Brien, said the superstar.
