Report: Heat may trade draft pick for Mike Conley

Sean Deveney of the Sporting News reported that the Miami Heat may trade their No. 13 pick in the NBA Draft to the Memphis Grizzlies for Mike Conley.

Moreover, ESPN’s Zach Lowe said on his most recent podcast episode with Kevin Arnovitz that he expects Miami to be very active in trade discussions this summer.

This year’s NBA Draft is known to be pretty thin beyond the projected top three picks—Zion Williamson, Ja Morant and R.J. Barrett. That’s part of the reason Miami may be willing to part with a lottery pick, Deveney said. And the Heat could offload some of the misguided contracts they gave out in 2016 and 2017 to offer the 13th pick to Memphis.

The Grizzlies already have the second pick in the Draft. Morant is a point guard, so selecting him with the second pick could lead Memphis to trade Conley.

Riley has long coveted Conley — there were rumors that Miami would try to sign the point guard in the summer of 2016. But he’s due more than $30 million for each of the next two years. That’s a lot to pay for a player who has never made an All-Star or All-NBA Team. Is there much of a difference between overpaying for Dion Waiters and overpaying for Conley?

My opinion? Conley won’t take the Heat much farther than they already are. I’d much rather develop a young player who can join the core of Justise Winslow, Josh Richardson, Bam Adebayo and Derrick Jones Jr. The Heat should get a group of nice, young players and then acquire a star through free agency or a trade.