Miami Heat: 2 players became trade-eligible on Dec. 15

Heat Trade — Kevin Love is one of two Mimai Heat players who became trade-eligible on Dec. 15. (Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)

Sunday marked the first day of the unofficial start of trade season for the 2024-25 NBA Season, with a total of 85 players who signed over the summer becoming trade-eligible.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that each player will be traded before the Feb. 6 trade deadline. Though one of them–Thomas Bryant, who re-signed for the minimum this offseason–was traded this weekend.

Who are the other two Miami Heat players now eligible to be moved? Let’s examine!

Kevin Love, F/C

Contract: Two-year, $8.0 million
2024-25 Cap Hit: $3.85 million

Love opted out of his $4.0 million player option in June before taking a slight pay cut, signing a two-year, $8.0 million deal on the opening day of free agency.

He was one of the league’s most effective backup bigs last season, though the 36-year-old has been anything but to begin the 2024-25 season. He’s averaging just 6.6 points and 4.7 rebounds on 36.7 percent shooting and 38.3 percent from 3-point range in 13 games.

In all fairness, his rebounding rate has slightly improved due to his activity on the offensive glass. But his true-shooting percentage has dipped by 9.5 percentage points while the Heat have been six points per 100 possessions worse defensively from 2023-24 to ’24-25 with Adebayo off the floor.

Alec Burks, G/F

Contract: One year, $3.3 millon deal
2024-25 Cap Hit: $2.1 million cap hit

Burks has only played 12 of the team’s 23 games to begin the season. He’s been effective in his role, averaging 5.3 points on 46.9 percent shooting from 3-point range in 15.1 minutes per game.

Given how deep the wing rotation is, Burks hasn’t played since Dec. 2, getting leapfrogged by Pelle Larsson (when healthy) and Dru Smith. He’s been one of the NBA’s most effective spot-up shooters, scoring 2.3 points per possession (97.8 percentile) in those situations; he also sports a team-best 48.3 catch-and-shoot 3-point percentage (min. 25 C&S 3PA), over five percentage points better than the next-best (Terry Rozier — 43.1 3P%) on spot-up attempts as well.

For the time, I foresee Burks remaining out of the rotation, barring an injury or in a need of a 3-point spark.