Yahoo Sports: Heat considering swap for Raptors

[polo007]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=A ... &type=lgns

As Jermaine O’Neal and his troublesome right knee returned to the Toronto lineup on Friday night, perhaps no one studied the Toronto Raptors center more closely than Pat Riley.

The Miami Heat president has been seriously considering a trade package for O’Neal that would send Shawn Marion to Toronto, multiple league sources said. Yet Riley first needs to see O’Neal’s progress before he’ll make the leap of faith on a trade.

Nevertheless, O’Neal, 30, was telling league associates as recently as Friday that he believes there’s a good chance he’ll end up in Miami.

“If he’s healthy,” one source close to O’Neal said Friday, “it could very well happen.”

League executives say that Riley has been determined to make a deal for a center, and has had substantive talks with Toronto GM Bryan Colangelo.

No GM has seemed more determined to overhaul his team than Colangelo, and several league executives say he won’t hesitate to take Marion – whom he drafted in Phoenix – and his expiring $17.1 million contract for O’Neal.

Miami would need to include another player, or two, to make the salaries match. O’Neal makes $21.3 million this season, and has a player’s option for $23 million for the next season.

[bane_dd]

Posted early this morning.

[lemondrop]

Perhaps the odom rumor was tossed out by BC to speed up Rileys decision. I think this will ultimately be the trade that goes down.