The Miami Heat may trade Mario Chalmers and Chris Andersen this summer as they try and free up salary cap space, as the team needs to sign back Goran Dragic and Dwyane Wade this offseason as free agents and the team also has a Hassan Whiteside contract on the horizon and this comes after the Heat took Justise Winslow in the draft on Thursday.
The Heat have a number of issues to deal with in free agency, including signing back Wade and Goran Dragic and that doesn't include the possibility of signing back Luol Deng if he opts out. The team also knows that Hassan Whiteside will be due a big raise in a year and on top of that, Miami reportedly wants to be in the mix to get Kevin Durant next summer as well. All of that means the team needs cap space and that is likely why Chalmers and Andersen are getting shopped.
According to Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst of ESPN, league sources are reporting that Miami is "attempting" to trade Mario Chalmers and Chris Andersen to "free up" cap space this offseason. The team wants to get the luxury tax bill down to keep costs down overall and the team wants to sign back Wade even with his contract demands. Signing Dragic is a priority after giving up first round picks to get him in a trade and now making trades could help the team get the salary cap in line. Andersen is set for $5 million and Chalmers is at $4.3 million and they are both in the final years of their contracts.
The players might be easier to trade with expiring contracts and Miami likely will shop those players as they start working things with Wade and Dragic. According to Pro Basketball Talk, the Heat want to get a lineup going with Dragic, Wade, Luol Deng, Chris Bosh and Whiteside moving forward and that likely means a trade or two to make that happen. The team just added Justise Winslow in the draft and he will give the team some depth off the bench and Miami is hoping to bring in more high profile players in the future like Kevin Durant.
Wade could look at signing a one year deal if he opts out and then sign a longer deal next summer, but right now the trust between Miami and Wade is not at its highest point. Wade likely will sign back with Miami, but he is looking for a long term deal at around $20 million per season and Miami feels like that is too much. Dragic is expecting a max deal and could sign for five years and around $90 million and that also has an effect on what happens with the team.
Winslow comes in as one of the value picks of the draft, as he was expected to go in the top five picks. Winslow was a trade target for the Celtics, as Boston tried to move up to take him, but the Hornets did not want to pull off the deal, even with six draft picks. Winslow now is on his way to Miami and the 19-year-old has a ton of potential as an NBA contributing player. Winslow may not be a star, but he does everything fairly well and has experience playing for a winner. Winslow averaged 12.6 points and 6.5 rebounds last season and shot near 50 percent for the season.