Free agency for stars doesn’t exist anymore. This isn’t 2010 — a world where the Heat’s brass appears to be stuck in. It worked when they didn’t have any sort of cap space in 2019 for Jimmy Butler. But since then, they’ve either struck out (in the trade market) — in part because they didn’t have enough assets — or have simply waited for their white whale to wash up on shore in free agency.
Newsflash: Most big-ticket free agents either re-up with their current team, or switch teams on the trade market. Here’s a list of a few that have moved as non-FA’s:
- Donovan Mitchell
- De’Aaron Fox
- James Harden
- James Harden
- Damian Lillard
- Mikal Bridges
- Karl-Anthony Towns
- Luka Doncic
- Anthony Davis
- Pascal Siakam