The Olympics will make for an intriguing Miami Heat viewing experience, and for more than what Bam Adebayo achieves alongside an All-Star cast with Team USA.
Rarely ahead of the NBA’s most active personnel period of the calendar comes an opportunity for a team to put on display two of its primary potential trade chips.
Based on what Precious Achiuwa achieved during his rookie season or what KZ Okpala did during his second, the two Heat draft picks exited 2020-21 largely as non-descript components who had fallen out of Erik Spoelstra’s rotation, with Okpala never quite there in the first place.
But then came signs of something more promising under Mike Brown with the Nigerian Olympic team in advance of the Games, raw athleticism finding its place during a series of exhibitions on the international stage.
No, NBA scouts won’t be rewriting scouting reports on Achiuwa on Okpala based on performance in the group stage at the Tokyo Olympics, but there is something to be said about a most recent impression creating a lasting impression.
Already, The Athletic’s John Hollinger, the former Memphis Grizzlies executive, has posited a potential Heat sign-and-trade with Achiuwa and Okpala that lands Toronto Raptors free-agent point guard Kyle Lowry.
And then, shortly thereafter, The Undefeated offered an interview with Brown that had the former Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers coach practically gushing about Achiuwa.
“He’s a unique talent from the standpoint that he’s a gifted, skilled player,” Brown said. “He can handle the ball, he can pass the ball and he’s got great size. But because of his quickness, his strength, his athleticism and his feel, and then he can be a $200 million player by playing the 5 because he can guard 1 through 5, and especially in today’s NBA game.”
Granted, Brown previously called Okpala a potential future NBA Defensive Player of the Year, so we’re clearly deep into Nigerian national hyperbole season.
But, still, at least someone already has taken notice of two of only five players the Heat currently have under guaranteed contract for next season. And if more take notice ahead of Thursday’s NBA draft or the Aug. 2 start of NBA free agency, then all the better for Pat Riley’s front office.
The counter could be that with the Heat lacking a pick in Thursday’s draft because of previous deals, and already with their 2023 first-round pick tied up, Achiuwa and Okpala represent the very type of youth that Riley needs to keep in the Heat pipeline.
But if Riley isn’t moving Jimmy Butler or Bam Adebayo, and if Tyler Herro is as off limits as Riley has stressed, then there has to be something of consequence to put into play.
At season’s end, save for the meaningless regular-season finale against the Detroit Pistons, Achiuwa and Okpala hardly were components of consequence.
Then came a second chance at NBA notice with a Nigeria roster that has legitimate medal possibilities.
Depending on how it plays out in Japan, the Olympic run could be brief enough to leave the duo with ample opportunity to rejoin the Heat for at least part of summer league, as anonymous in that backdrop as they were at the close of the 2020-21 season.
Or perhaps all that glitters will be enough to attract an inquiring eye, a team able to offer a talent more in chronological line with Butler’s impending 32nd birthday on Sept. 14.
What happens with Adebayo in Tokyo could leave the Heat center further polished for a run back toward something closer to the Heat’s march to the 2020 NBA Finals.
But what happens with Achiuwa and Okpala at the Games could prove transformative for the Heat when it comes to the NBA’s personnel frenzy that is about to move center stage stateside.
