ASK IRA: Could summer league be a Heat trade showcase?
Q: Is it possible that the Portland Trail Blazers are going to use summer league to evaluate our trade assets for a Damian Lillard potential trade? – Eddie, South Bend, Ind.
A: No. Summer league hardly is a scouting tool, but rather a developmental tool. There have been plenty of summer-league superstars (hello, Earl Barron) who have proven to be little more than G League journeymen. If the Trail Blazers are interested in, say, Nikola Jovic or Jaime Jaquez Jr. as trade components in a deal for Damian Lillard, then they already have their full scouting reports in place. A big game by Nikola or Jaime in the California Classic hardly is not going to alter that thinking, nor should it.
Related Articles
Q: Ira, why the rush on considering waiving Victor Oladipo? Last year, not this past season, he came back and helped in the playoffs, particularly with his defense. His contract is still low. And who are they going to get that’s better? – Stan.
A: Victor Oladipo opting into his $9.5 million for 2023-24 is about more than Victor Oladipo. It is about the Heat’s roster configuration, the uncertainty regarding his recovery from yet another knee procedure, and, most significantly, the new, onerous levels of the luxury tax. Assuming anything regarding Vic is risky at this point. Yes, if they retain him, they would hold his Bird Rights for next summer, but that is a long game that the Heat, with their salary situation, cannot necessarily afford to play. They simply do not have the wherewithal to hold a $9.5 million salary against their tax situation with no assurances of playability. So if stretching his salary over three seasons by waiving him by the end of August gets them to a lower tax tier, they would do it. The question mostly is whether his 2023-24 salary can be utilized as cap ballast in a trade prior to the end of August. That will be the focus over the next two months. The Heat also could hold on to the salary, if it does not impact their tax tier, through the February trading deadline, in case the figure can be utilized then. As for expectations of Vic back producing in a Heat uniform in 2023-24, that, at the moment, appears to be a longshot.
Q: I just watched Jaime Jaquez Jr. highlights. He is a great defender in the post, steals balls and plays a lot like Jimmy Butler – a Carlos Santana lookalike. Do you believe he is our future Jimmy Butler replacement in a couple of years? – Ampro, Delray Beach.
A: Hmm, adopting Jimmy Butler’s Evil Ways? Not sure the analogy goes that far.
