An NBA source has confirmed to the Sun Sentinel that the Miami Heat are working toward the completion of a trade for Oklahoma City Thunder forward Trevor Ariza.
The deal would send out a 2027 second-round draft choice and the rights to center Meyers Leonard, who then would be released by the Thunder.
Leonard, because of his contract status, had veto power, but that became a non-issue with the center out for the season following shoulder surgery. His contract includes a team option for 2021-22, which will be bypassed.
Leonard is in the midst of a weeklong suspension by the NBA for uttering an anti-Semitic slur while livestreaming video-game play last week. The timing of the trade now makes moot whether he would have been welcomed back into the Heat locker room.
Ariza, 35, is a Miami native who last played in the NBA last season with the Portland Trail Blazers, bypassing the NBA’s summer return in the quarantine bubble setting in Disney World due to a child-custody issue.
The offseason then provide to be a whirlwind for the 6-foot-8 defensive stopper, traded from the Trail Blazers to the Houston Rockets to the Detroit Pistons and then the Thunder, without reporting to any of those stops.
Ariza is on the final year of his contract, with a $12.8 million salary this season. Because he was acquired in a trade, the Heat also acquired his Bird Rights, eligible to re-sign him above the salary cap in the offseason.
Because of the trade, the Heat will lose the $4.7 million disabled-player salary-cap exception for this season that had been granted by the NBA due to Leonard’s season-ending surgery.
Ariza has been working out in South Florida with trainer Stanley Remy, who also works with several Heat players.
The deal firms up the Heat frontcourt rotation, with the team having received uneven play from Moe Harkless, who was acquired in the offseason in free agency after the Heat lost Jae Crowder to the Phoenix Suns in free agency.
The addition of Ariza should alleviate the playing-time burden on Jimmy Butler and Andre Iguodala, among others. The timing is similar to when the Heat acquired Crowder from the Memphis Grizzlies at the 2020 NBA trading deadline, with Crowder a key component in last season’s run to the NBA Finals.
This 2021 NBA trading deadline is March 25, with the Heat still in possession of a $7.5 trade salary-cap exception that expires Monday.
