The Miami Heat pulled out a tight game against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday in overtime ahead of their Christmas Day matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center and with the trading deadline around the corner in February, there is a chance the team could chase players like Evan Turner, Brandon Rush and Jordan Crawford as possible options for Dwyane Wade as insurance for an injury.
Wade has been playing well of late, but he had knee issues last season as the team won their second straight NBA title and having some more reinforcements couldn't hurt the team as they make another run. The Indiana Pacers are a deep team and they just got Danny Granger back and with Wade missing his seventh game of the season already, Miami may want to have a solid backup plan in place. According to ESPN.com, earlier in the month Miami started to look into potential trades to help ease the burden of minutes on Wade and also in case of an injury and he still currently is not playing in back to back games.
The team has players like James Jones and Ray Allen that can start in place of Wade, but those players will get more minutes in the process and that could tire them out by the playoffs, making names like Turner, Rush or Crawford an interesting fit for the roster. Pro Basketball Talk reported that the Heat were interested in Jordan Crawford from the Boston Celtics as a potential option to spell Wade when needed and heading closer to the deadline, he could be someone they go after if they feel Wade has not shown enough progress heading into the second half of the season.
The best trade chip Miami has is Joel Anthony and that could be a potential move for the Celtics after Wade missed six games in the first 23 of the season for the Heat. The Celtics have played surprisingly well this season and have been leading the Atlantic division and while the team appeared to be a willing trade partner heading into the season, they did not jump into a deal with Houston Rockets for Omer Asik that seemed like it would go down. The Rockets and Celtics discussed a deal for Asik last week but that never went down and while Houston said they aren't planning on trading him, that could change at the deadline.
The Sixers have Thaddeus Young and Evan Turner as possible players that could get traded as they are rebuilding and they could be in the mix for a deal as well. Crawford is averaging double digit points this season with the Celtics and Turner has been playing some of the best ball of his career, but once again, the main issue is that Miami has just Anthony to use as trade bait. Miami of course doesn't "need" anything, as they have won two straight championships, but with Wade dealing with knee issues, a little insurance could be nice.
