Shams: Heat interested in Chris Paul

[BFRESH44]

I think a good compromise would be for CP3 to opt out of that final year of his contract and then the teams can make some type of even trade. If CP3 ever wants to go to a team where he can compete again, he’ll probably need to do that anyway. Would it be against the rules for him to agree to opt out and then officially agree to a lower amount for that final year, or no? Would he just have to opt out and trust them? I’m pretty sure I read that he can officially opt out now - doesn’t need to wait till years from now.

Would you give up $44 million? Answer that question, honestly. And then understand how ridiculous it is to suggest that Chris Paul should consider it.

[Hindenburg]

Who is Chirs Paul ?

This, must be some undrafted rookie or a G leaguer.

[azcatz11]

Paul
Butler
Winslow
Olynyk
Bam

That's a solid starting 5 in the east. They could easily make some noise.

[Cookin Baskets]

great what they are going to offer okc exactly??

[zimpy27]

It's a good plan for them to be interestind in Paul. If they want to maximize a guy like Bam, he'd be the one of the best ones to make it happen.

Winslow and Dragic for CP3 may make some sense if Heat wants to hold on to pick(s).
CP3, Herro, Butler, Bam, Olynyk
Nunn, Dion, Jones, JJ, Leonard

Otherwise, it's Dragic, Waiters and pick(s) for CP3
CP3, Butler, Winslow, Bam, Olynyk
Nunn, Herro, Jones, JJ, Leonard

[NBAFan93]

I think a good compromise would be for CP3 to opt out of that final year of his contract and then the teams can make some type of even trade. If CP3 ever wants to go to a team where he can compete again, he’ll probably need to do that anyway. Would it be against the rules for him to agree to opt out and then officially agree to a lower amount for that final year, or no? Would he just have to opt out and trust them? I’m pretty sure I read that he can officially opt out now - doesn’t need to wait till years from now.

Would you give up $44 million? Answer that question, honestly. And then understand how ridiculous it is to suggest that Chris Paul should consider it.

Well if he doesn’t want to he may very well be spending the final three years of his career on a rebuilding team, cause no one is going to want to trade for a poison pill contract like that - $40M for a 37 year old?

[wade44]

Miami would be in a much better position to let the bad contracts on the roster expire then be somewhat of a player in FA for 2021. Really no sense in blowing your load on 3 years of a washed up, injury prone has-been on a major decline & one of the worst contracts in the league

[BBallFreak]

It's a good plan for them to be interestind in Paul. If they want to maximize a guy like Bam, he'd be the one of the best ones to make it happen.

Winslow and Dragic for CP3 may make some sense if Heat wants to hold on to pick(s).
CP3, Herro, Butler, Bam, Olynyk
Nunn, Dion, Jones, JJ, Leonard

Otherwise, it's Dragic, Waiters and pick(s) for CP3
CP3, Butler, Winslow, Bam, Olynyk
Nunn, Herro, Jones, JJ, Leonard

I don't think you understand the situation, here. Paul's contract is awful. Miami won't be giving up picks no matter what flotsam OKC takes from us. In fact, they should still be paying Miami to take that contract.

The only way I do this trade if I'm Miami is if Paul agrees to waive that final year, but as BFRESH aptly pointed out, it's not happening.

[dacrusha]

I think a good compromise would be for CP3 to opt out of that final year of his contract and then the teams can make some type of even trade. If CP3 ever wants to go to a team where he can compete again, he’ll probably need to do that anyway. Would it be against the rules for him to agree to opt out and then officially agree to a lower amount for that final year, or no? Would he just have to opt out and trust them? I’m pretty sure I read that he can officially opt out now - doesn’t need to wait till years from now.

Would you give up $44 million? Answer that question, honestly. And then understand how ridiculous it is to suggest that Chris Paul should consider it.

Well if he doesn’t want to he may very well be spending the final three years of his career on a rebuilding team, cause no one is going to want to trade for a poison pill contract like that - $40M for a 37 year old?

Chris Paul is the president of the NBA players union.

There is a better chance that Kawhi demands a trade back to the Spurs than CP3 opting out of one of the biggest paying years in league history.

[spikeslovechild]

If the heat want Chris Paul they will have to take on his entire contract and/or offer a bad contract plus picks. OKC has no reason to give up assets.

[LofJ]

Chris Paul would be lucky to get paid $12 million on the last year of his deal, so he'd be giving up over $30 million if he opts out. Lmao if you think he's going to do that.

[Amare_1_Knicks]

Butler and Paul would certainly make for a compelling duo, with a legitimate shot of making it out of the East, depending on who they give up to acquire him.

[BBallFreak]

If the heat want Chris Paul they will have to take on his entire contract and/or offer a bad contract plus picks. OKC has no reason to give up assets.

Miami has no reason to take him. Being interested and being desperate are two entirely different things. I'm interested in Mercedes Benz's, but I'm not buying one. And let's be clear, the one Miami is kicking the tires on is overpriced, prone to needing frequent maintenance, and has 200,000 miles on it. That's not even mentioning the fact that this particular Benz tends to smack up all the other cars in the parking lot, causing them to want to find a different parking lot.

It was said initially that we were interested but were unwilling to do it without our picks coming back to us. OKC was willing, They wanted us to include Bam. That's not happening. My guess is that the two teams have talked since the trade went down on a regular basis but that nothing is going down any time soon.

And you conveniently believe that you're bargaining from a position of strength. You're not. An unhappy Chris Paul - president of the player's union, on that contract, at his age, with his ability to alienate his costars - doesn't give you leverage.

So my advice to you is, by all means, keep him. Let him destroy SGA, Gallo, Adams, and all those nice young pieces you're going to bring in. Have fun...

[zimpy27]

It's a good plan for them to be interestind in Paul. If they want to maximize a guy like Bam, he'd be the one of the best ones to make it happen.

Winslow and Dragic for CP3 may make some sense if Heat wants to hold on to pick(s).
CP3, Herro, Butler, Bam, Olynyk
Nunn, Dion, Jones, JJ, Leonard

Otherwise, it's Dragic, Waiters and pick(s) for CP3
CP3, Butler, Winslow, Bam, Olynyk
Nunn, Herro, Jones, JJ, Leonard

I don't think you understand the situation, here. Paul's contract is awful. Miami won't be giving up picks no matter what flotsam OKC takes from us. In fact, they should still be paying Miami to take that contract.

The only way I do this trade if I'm Miami is if Paul agrees to waive that final year, but as BFRESH aptly pointed out, it's not happening.

Heat are over the cap anyway, spending more on CP3 doesn't limit their ability to sign free agents or other talent (they already can't). For over the cap teams the salary CP3 should only matter to ownership (and they seem fine with spending more). The best the Heat can do is to trade their existing expiring assets for longer-term assets for teams that want to dip under the cap ASAP.

In this case, the Heat the season after next would be Goran (if he resigns), Butler, Bam, Herro, Winslow, Waiters, JJ, and Olynyk. They can't add anyone else in FA. They are stuck. So the best they can do is trade some of these guys for a better player (CP3).

[Raps in 4]

Riley is getting desperate.

well, aside from the top 3 teams (Phily, Milly, Boston) the East is wide open, getting Paul means the Heat are probably the 4th best team in that conference. if they can get a top 4 seed who knows what can happen.

Boston? They got swept in the second round and then lost their second best player without a replacement. I'd argue that Philly took a step back too. Horford is great, but he's on the decline, and he doesn't replace Butler's scoring.

[BBallFreak]

It's a good plan for them to be interestind in Paul. If they want to maximize a guy like Bam, he'd be the one of the best ones to make it happen.

Winslow and Dragic for CP3 may make some sense if Heat wants to hold on to pick(s).
CP3, Herro, Butler, Bam, Olynyk
Nunn, Dion, Jones, JJ, Leonard

Otherwise, it's Dragic, Waiters and pick(s) for CP3
CP3, Butler, Winslow, Bam, Olynyk
Nunn, Herro, Jones, JJ, Leonard

I don't think you understand the situation, here. Paul's contract is awful. Miami won't be giving up picks no matter what flotsam OKC takes from us. In fact, they should still be paying Miami to take that contract.

The only way I do this trade if I'm Miami is if Paul agrees to waive that final year, but as BFRESH aptly pointed out, it's not happening.

Heat are over the cap anyway, spending more on CP3 doesn't limit their ability to sign free agents or other talent (they already can't). For over the cap teams the salary CP3 should only matter to ownership (and they seem fine with spending more). The best the Heat can do is to trade their existing expiring assets for longer-term assets for teams that want to dip under the cap ASAP.

In this case, the Heat the season after next would be Goran (if he resigns), Butler, Bam, Herro, Winslow, Waiters, JJ, and Olynyk. They can't add anyone else in FA. They are stuck. So the best they can do is trade some of these guys for a better player (CP3).

You're talking next year. That's wonderful. We don't care about next year's free-agent class. No one really good is hitting the market. It's the year after that we're focused on, and we do have cap space then. Taking on Chris Paul means we wouldn't have it, and would instead have a 37 year old Chris Paul making $44 million. Think about that. That's insane money for a guy likely to be ineffective and injured.

So, in order for Miami to take that deal, they need assets coming back. It's that simple. Our picks, or he's OKC's problem...

[The_Hater]

Dragic and James Johnson gets the Heat pretty close in salary.

As much as I think Miami should avoid CP’s contract without taking back draft picks too, Pat Riley seems to be flying by the seat of his pants trying to rebuild a contending the last few seasons. I could see him making this move.

[HBK_Kliq_33]

Butler and Paul would certainly make for a compelling duo, with a legitimate shot of making it out of the East, depending on who they give up to acquire him.

They both like to point guard, i don't see that as a good fit.

[ken6199]

I think a good compromise would be for CP3 to opt out of that final year of his contract and then the teams can make some type of even trade. If CP3 ever wants to go to a team where he can compete again, he’ll probably need to do that anyway. Would it be against the rules for him to agree to opt out and then officially agree to a lower amount for that final year, or no? Would he just have to opt out and trust them? I’m pretty sure I read that he can officially opt out now - doesn’t need to wait till years from now.

Interesting that you mentioned "Trust them". Paul trusted Rockets, he got that contract extension, then got swept away like nobody. At this point I think he should trust nobody but rather his own body. Can his body still hold up, how is it going to look in 2021 when he is presumably going to be a ring chaser on a contending team (if he hasn't won a ring by then), that's the deciding factor. And to make all that a possible, yeah, agreeing to opt out that nasty 4th year player option is the first step.

[BBallFreak]

Butler and Paul would certainly make for a compelling duo, with a legitimate shot of making it out of the East, depending on who they give up to acquire him.

They both like to point guard, i don't see that as a good fit.

He and Harden both liked to point guard too. That wasn't the problem between the two from my understanding of things.

Dragic and James Johnson gets the Heat pretty close in salary.

Miami can't get pretty close in salary. They're hard capped this year, and it's pretty close right now. They'd want flexibility out of the deal as well.

As much as I think Miami should avoid CP’s contract without taking back draft picks too, Pat Riley seems to be flying by the seat of his pants trying to rebuild a contending the last few seasons. I could see him making this move.

I think you're underestimating Pat Riley. He tends to be pretty shrewd when making trades.