The Miami Heat have strong interest in Dallas Mavericks guard Klay Thompson, per Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald, who report the pursuit is not contingent on whether LeBron James picks Miami in free agency.
The logic is easy to follow. Since the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade sent out Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware and Jaime Jaquez Jr., Miami’s roster has tilted heavily toward two stars and a thin supporting cast, and the front office has been hunting wing shooting to space the floor around Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo. Thompson, even at this stage of his career, remains one of the most accomplished catch-and-shoot players the league has produced.
The mechanics are the problem. Thompson is owed roughly $17.5 million next season on an expiring contract, and the Heat — hard-capped at the first apron by the structure of the Giannis deal — have little room to absorb that number in a trade. The realistic route is a buyout in Dallas followed by a minimum-type signing in Miami. The complication, as the Herald notes via Marc Stein’s earlier reporting, is that the Mavericks would rather trade Thompson than negotiate a buyout, because a trade returns actual value instead of paying a player to leave.
So Miami’s interest may amount to a waiting game: if Dallas finds a trade partner that can match the salary, Thompson likely lands elsewhere. If the market never materializes and the Mavericks pivot to a buyout closer to camp, the Heat would be positioned to offer a defined role in a contender’s closing lineups. Front offices that wait out the market this way tend to be betting the price comes to them, and Miami has run that play before.
For fantasy purposes, treat this as a situation to monitor rather than act on. If Thompson reaches Miami, he would profile as a low-usage spot-up shooter worth a late-round redraft flier for threes and little else; his arrival would also modestly squeeze minutes for Miami’s remaining young wings, whose dynasty value already took a hit in the Giannis consolidation.
