Warriors trading ace, Bucks to-do list, Heat negotiation chip

The Miami Heat are among the majority of Eastern Conference teams toiling below .500 on the young season. Jimmy Butler is showing clear signs of aging and Bam Adebayo isn’t making the offensive leap fans expect. Tyler Herro has kept Miami afloat with his best individual campaign yet, but it’s still early and the Heat are leaning toward sticking with the postseason no matter what. The meteor didn’t kill the roaches and a slow start won’t kill the heat.

That said, with Butler’s contract coming off the books at the end of the season, it will be fascinating to see how Pat Riley and the front office approach the upcoming trade deadline. Butler’s future feels far from guaranteed in Miami. If Butler leaves this offseason, flexibility and youth will be key for the Heat front office. It’s all about building the succession plan and luring the next star to South Beach.

One potential trade candidate with “high” value, as Matt Moore said Action network states, is Duncan Robinson.

Robinson scored 20 points in 31 minutes off the bench in Miami’s win over Indiana on Sunday. He expects $19.4 million this season and $19.9 million in 2025-2026. That’s a high number on its face, but the NBA’s rising cap ceiling puts some of these once-egregious contracts in a more favorable context. Robinson’s skills should be appreciated across the league; he is a deadeye shooter and a ruthless off-ball mover. He can easily fit into any group offensively, and the benefits of his floor space are enormous.

If the Heat look to dump space, Robinson could intrigue some contenders. If the Heat want to reach the next level with more star talent, Robinson’s salary is a useful tool in any trade. Don’t be shocked if we hear his name more often in the coming months.

The Milwaukee Bucks are 4-9, which ranks twelfth in the Eastern Conference. Not exactly how Doc Rivers would have planned it with a healthy Giannis Antetokounmpo. Injuries continue to plague Milwaukee overall, most recently with Damian Lillard’s concussion, but the Bucks shouldn’t be that bad. It’s hard to have confidence in the future — short or long term — when even Giannis’ MVP-like heroics can’t produce a .500 record.

While Giannis’ name continues to float around the rumor mill, it’s clear the Bucks won’t trade him this offseason (or ever, if they can help it). Instead, the Bucks will look to improve the roster around Antetokounmpo, although the league’s new CBA makes things very difficult for Milwaukee. As a second apron team, choked with luxury tax penalties, the Bucks are not allowed to add salaries together in a trade.

As for priorities, says Jake Fischer Bleacher Report says the Bucks are focusing on quality perimeter defenders.

“The Bucks continue to call around the league and are currently looking for defensive adjustments and reinforcements,” he reported in a recent livestream. “That’s been the theme in Milwaukee going back to the last trade deadline.”

He also notes that Milwaukee won’t trade Giannis until the two-time MVP demands a trade, and that those talks won’t happen until the offseason, if they happen at all. That means the goal is to build around Giannis in the meantime, and perimeter defense has been Milwaukee’s main bugaboo all season. Dame is a liability, and the Bucks’ aging core bodes poorly for their desire to field an elite defense. Giannis and Brook Lopez can still do a lot of cleaning up in the back end, but the Bucks’ current mediocre defense won’t help them climb the Eastern Conference standings.

Golden State Warriors second-year guard Brandin Podziemski recently commented on the frustration of hearing his name thrown around in trade rumors all summer. The Dubs were obviously linked to the likes of Lauri Markkanen and Paul George, and Podziemski was naturally at the center of those conversations after a productive rookie campaign.

“It was hard for me to process it mentally,” Podziemski told ESPN. “Everyone gets you excited but at the same time puts you down, like, ‘Why didn’t we trade him? We should have traded him for X, Y, Z.'”

However, that appears to have been just a trial run for Podziemski. ESPN’s Tim Bontemps expects the 21-year-old’s name to pop up in trade talks again this season.

“It’s good that Podziemski was able to learn this summer about using his name in trade talks because it’s going to happen again this season,” he wrote. “Scouts and executives have identified Golden State and Houston as the two teams most likely to make a big splash before the Feb. 6 trade deadline. Both have a combination of young players and draft picks to make deals, while most other teams expected to be in that mix have one or neither at their disposal after the many big deals made in recent seasons.”

The Warriors were connected to a who’s who of available stars this summer: Paul George, Lauri Markkanen, Karl-Anthony Towns, Jimmy Butler, DeMar DeRozan. We know Golden State wants to maximize Stephen Curry’s waning title reign and their red-hot start to this season won’t quell those desires. If the Dubs want to add a star, it will require a sacrifice, however, and Podziemski may be the best prospect in Golden State’s program.

It is what it is. Basketball can be a cold business sometimes.