The Miami Heat’s performance against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs only further highlighted the team’s need for additional scoring punch. The Heat averaged just 95.5 points per game in a series that saw them get swept by the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed, and they mustered fewer than 90 points in Games 3 and 4 at Kaseya Center.
A report from Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald has linked the Heat to one of the greatest scorers ever to touch a basketball. Allegedly, the Heat might pursue a trade for Kevin Durant, though they won’t offer all of their first-round draft capital in exchange for the forward.
“The sense here is that while the Heat might again pursue Phoenix’s Kevin Durant, Miami isn’t going to offer all of its first-round inventory for a 36-year-old with one year left on his contract,” Jackson wrote.
“But Houston’s interest in Durant has been overstated, according to reports. Minnesota could become a top contender for Durant if the [Minnesota] Wolves don’t win a championship.”
Durant is long in the tooth but remains one of the premier scorers in the league when factoring in the volume and efficiency with which he put the ball through the net in the 2024-25 regular season. He averaged 26.6 points per game — the sixth-most of any NBA player this season — while shooting 52.7 percent from the field and 43.0 percent from 3-point range.
For comparison, Tyler Herro is the only player who averaged 20-plus points per game for the Heat, and his performance in the playoffs implied that he might not be ready to be a de facto scoring option on a contending team just yet. He shot just 41.5 percent from the field and 31.0 percent from 3 in the playoffs and saw his scoring take a noticeable dip compared to the regular season.
Durant and Bam Adebayo would seemingly make for quite the pairing on both ends of the floor. While Durant can score the ball with the best of them, Adebayo is an elite defender and hangs his hat on that end. The former University of Kentucky standout has been named to five All-Defensive teams during his career.
If the Heat can make a push for Durant this summer without breaking the bank, Miami should be aggressive in looking to trade for the veteran. But the team’s reported hesitancy to part ways with its entire first-round inventory for a player of Durant’s age is understandable.
