Kevin Durant asks for trade. What could Heat offer to Nets to acquire Durant?

As the Miami Heat entered free agency, it also joined the rest of the league in the Kevin Durant sweepstakes.

Just a few hours before free agent negotiations around the NBA were allowed to begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday, numerous reports confirmed that Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant is demanding a trade and the Nets are working with him to find a trade partner.

With Durant now on track to be moved, the Nets could also look to trade star guard Kyrie Irving in the coming days and weeks.

Heat free agency tracker: Kevin Durant asks for trade; Heat among teams that interest him

The Heat has been linked to Durant and Irving in the past. Earlier this week, a league source told the Miami Herald that the Heat was far more interested in Durant than Irving.

It appears that Durant is also interested in the Heat. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Durant has the Phoenix Suns and Heat as two of his preferred trade destinations.

But Wojnarowski also pointed out that the Nets “plan to move Durant where they can get the best possible deal.” Numerous teams are expected to show significant interest in Durant with four seasons left on his contract, as Wojnarowski said on ESPN more than half of the league had already checked in with the Nets regarding Durant within the first hour that his trade demand became public.

Durant’s four-year, $194 million contract extension he signed with the Nets last summer begins this upcoming season.

Durant, who turns 34 in September, is still considered to be among the league’s top players even after undergoing surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon in 2019. He averaged 29.9 points while shooting 51.8 percent from the field and 38.3 percent from three-point range, 7.4 rebounds and 6.4 assists this past season.

What’s the best possible trade package the Heat can put together?

First, it’s worth noting that Heat star center Bam Adebayo is not currently eligible to be included in a trade with the Nets because of NBA salary cap rules, unless Ben Simmons is also part of the deal.

That’s because of the Designated Rookie Extension rule: A team can’t have two players acquired via trade who were signed to that type of extension. Simmons also falls into that category.

P.J. Tucker leaving in free agency to join 76ers. How can Heat replace void he leaves behind?

With Adebayo not currently eligible to be included in a trade package for Durant unless Simmons is involved, the clear-cut best player the Heat could hypothetically offer the Nets is Jimmy Butler. But Butler, 32, was seemingly untouchable entering the offseason, and it’s unclear if the Heat would even make Butler available or whether the Nets would seek younger talent.

The Heat could also offer guard 22-year-old guard Tyler Herro and 19-year-old Serbian forward Nikola Jovic, who was the team’s first-round pick in last week’s draft.

Miami is also currently eligible to include an unprotected first-round pick in 2023 and 2028 in a deal. The Heat could also throw in either its 2025 or 2026 first-round pick in a trade if it amends the lottery protections on the 2025 first-round selection it owes the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Adebayo and Durant developed a close friendship after playing together and winning a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics last summer. It wouldn’t be surprising if Durant was only willing to join the Heat if Adebayo was still on the roster.

The Heat’s current salary-cap breakdown for next season includes 12 players: Butler ($37.7 million), Adebayo ($30.4 million), Kyle Lowry ($28.3 million), Duncan Robinson ($16.9 million), Victor Oladipo ($11 million), Herro ($5.7 million), Dewayne Dedmon ($4.3 million), Jovic (projected $2.2 million), Max Strus ($1.8 million), Gabe Vincent ($1.8 million), Omer Yurtseven ($1.8 million) and Haywood Highsmith (non-guaranteed $1.8 million).

Miami Heat keeps Victor Oladipo on a one-year deal, signs Dedmon for two years

Not including cap holds, the Heat has about $143.7 million committed to salaries for next season with the NBA setting the 2022-23 salary cap at $123.7 million, luxury-tax threshold at $150.3 million and potential hard-cap apron at $157 million.

While P.J. Tucker will leave Miami to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers, Dedmon and Oladipo are returning to the Heat. That leaves three players from the Heat’s season-ending roster who remain available in free agency: Udonis Haslem and Markieff Morris are unrestricted free agents, and Caleb Martin is an restricted free agent.

The Heat is operating as an over-the-cap team in free agency this offseason since it does not hold cap space. That means Miami needs to add free agents by using either the power of Bird rights, one of the two midlevel exceptions, the bi-annual exception, a minimum contract or a sign-and-trade transaction.

Using either the $10.5 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception, $4.1 million biannual exception or acquiring a player through a sign-and-trade would hard cap the Heat at about $157 million. But a league source told the Miami Herald that the Heat is looking to avoid the hard cap this year because it would limit the team’s flexibility in the trade market during the NBA’s 2022-23 calendar, and that flexibility gives Miami more room to be creative in its pursuit of Durant.

While negotiations began Thursday evening, free agents can’t formally sign their new contracts until Wednesday at 12:01 p.m.