Cavaliers rumors: A J.R. Smith trade with Heat would be mutually beneficial

The Miami Heat are reportedly interested in acquiring J.R. Smith via trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers, and that would be mutually beneficial.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have not had veteran guard J.R. Smith as an active member of their team since last November, when he and the organization reportedly agreed that he was essentially no longer with them (per the team and h/t Bleacher Report’s Adam Wells) and work together to find a new NBA home for him in the near future.

A team that could be a trade partner for Smith is the Miami Heat, who have shown interest in essentially what would be a deal for salary matching leading to cap relief for them in exchange for the 33-year-old, according to a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (subscription required).

Smith only appeared in 11 games last season with the Cavaliers (per Basketball Reference), due to him not being in favor of Cleveland’s rebuilding mindset and lack of desire to win after they reportedly wanting to compete for the postseason at the beginning of the 2018-19 season (as was initially reported by The Athletic’s Jason Lloyd, subscription required).

The reason that Miami is reportedly interested in trading for Smith is because of his contract structure; as we’ve often noted here at KJG, Smith is set to make $15.68 million for the 2019-20 season, which is the last of his current contract, but he’s only guaranteed to make $3.87 million of that salary for next season, and that’s why he continues to be a crucial part of Cavaliers rumors this offseason.

The Heat (and likely any other potential trade partner with Cleveland) would all but certainly waive Smith before June 30th and possibly stretch that compensation for next year over three years. If Miami did trade for Smith and eventually waived him before the end of this month, they would save $11.81 million, as All U Can Heat’s Duncan Smith highlighted.

Smith’s trade value would still count for that $15.68 million, though, because his contract was signed under the rules of the last CBA and not current one, as we’ve often detailed here at KJG, and for that reason, I could see the Heat sending their 2019 first-round draft pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers (which is 13th overall).

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Smith would suggest that a potential player attached to a J.R. trade could be Miami’s James Johnson or Kelly Olynyk, who are due to make over $15.3 million and over $12.6 million (per Spotrac) next season and have three years remaining on their current contracts, which has to crippling for Miami.

Neither of those players are household names, but either could help Cleveland and head coach John Beilein develop a winning culture (which the Heat have), and both can provide some secondary playmaking and some rotational scoring and both could help the Cavaliers on the defensive end if healthy.

If Cleveland were to trade for Johnson or Olynyk as suggested by Smith, assuming the Heat would attach that 13th overall pick, I would expect that John Henson, Jordan Clarkson and/or Brandon Knight would definitely be further shopped and maybe traded soon after by Cleveland in another possible deal with other teams. Due to those players potentially having some value to contending teams next season as expiring pieces and possible bench players, I would expect them to be at the forefront of Cavaliers rumors for the foreseeable future, by the way.

When it comes to that Heat selection, I would like to see the Cleveland Cavaliers target pieces such as USC’s Kevin Porter Jr., Kentucky’s PJ Washington, Indiana’s Romeo Langford or Gonzaga’s Brandon Clarke, as those players could potentially join Collin Sexton, Kevin Love, Cedi Osman and Larry Nance Jr. as core pieces for the near future in Cleveland, who had only a 19-63 record last season (per NBA.com), but did show promise when they were reasonably healthy.

Moreover, Cleveland general manager Koby Altman should definitely consider the Heat as a trade destination for Smith, as it seems due to cap issues, they may not want to pay the 13th overall pick anyway (a value of over 3,029,600, per Real GM) while continually paying a piece such as Johnson or Olynyk for the next three years.

Cleveland majority owner/chairman Dan Gilbert’s willingness to spend to help the Cavs’ rebuild could feasibly allow Altman and the front office to take on a bad contract and that 13th pick, though, which would make a Heat-Cavs deal mutually beneficial.