Ira Winderman: Heat have trade chips to put into play, but hardly hold all the cards

MIAMI — As their process again has shown these past few days, the NFL draft is about draft picks, the newcomers, the next wave of rookies.

The NBA draft, by contrast, is one of the busiest times of the personnel calendar when it comes to veteran talent, when deals are sealed on the eve of the process, or during the process, or immediately after targeted selections are consummated. It is why the logo of the draft-night hat shortly thereafter often won’t match the ensuing jersey logo.

Which brings us to the draft process that soon will follow south of the Miami Dolphins headquarters, or, more to the point, the draft-related process that will begin for Pat Riley, Erik Spoelstra and the rest of the Miami Heat front office after the May 10 draft lottery.

From there it will be go-time, when better reads, because of the setting of draft positions, can be established for potential personnel moves, be it Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ja Morant or otherwise.

Which, as always, brings it to what will be taken to market.

For a team that has won a single playoff game — game, not series — over the past three years, change has to be inevitable. That means moves that come at a cost.

How much of a cost?

Bam Adebayo: This would mean a complete teardown for a team that doesn’t do complete teardowns.

Dwyane Wade was retained for Shaquille O’Neal and then LeBron James and Chris Bosh. Goran Dragic was retained for Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler was retained for, gulp, Kyle Lowry and, double-gulp, Terry Rozier.

Only an immense draft package could even create a degree of sway, and even then, would have to be accompanied by expiring, non-cap-clogging contracts.

Put another way, the Heat won’t trade Bam Adebayo for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Tyler Herro: After years of rumors, there is practically no way for the Heat to keep Herro’s name out during the upcoming trade cycle.

Due $33 million, Herro could stand as the lone large salary for the Heat to utilize in a swing for the fences, considering Norman Powell is an impending free agent and that Andrew Wiggins could opt into free agency.

Beyond Adebayo’s $49.8 million for next season and Herro’s $33 million, the next largest contract on the Heat’s 2026-27 books, if Powell and Wiggins are not in the trade mix, would be Davion Mitchell’s $12.4 million.

Norman Powell, Andrew Wiggins: To include Powell in a trade, it would mean he either would have to be extended by June 30 or agree to a Heat-designated destination in a sign-and-trade agreement after June 30.

As for Wiggins, it would be difficult to envision him opting in solely to be moved in a deal, or, for that matter, allowing the Heat to dictate a sign-and-trade destination. If Wiggins opts out and then re-signs, he then could not be dealt until Dec. 15, if not part of a sign-and-trade agreement.

This is why the Heat should have moved in advance at this past season’s trade deadline in February, rather than the fantasy of believing they were contenders.

Kel’el Ware: If there is a trade, arguably any trade, then Ware likely would appear headed elsewhere.

The question is that he is on such a cap-favorable deal — due $4.7 million next season on his rookie-scale deal — that ample salary ballast likely would have to be added. That, in turn, likely would compromise both Heat depth and the team’s developmental pipeline.

Davion Mitchell, Nikola Jovic: As mentioned above, Mitchell, at $12.4 million for next season, holds the only Heat value salary for next season between Herro’s $33 million and Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s $5.9 million.

Actually, Nikola Jovic is due $16.2 million for next season, but that is at the start of a four-year extension. At this point, Jovic’s contract would be more an offload than an enticement, perhaps a vehicle to be utilized in taking on Ja Morant’s money.

Jaime Jaquez Jr.: Should the Heat retain the offensive system adopted this past season, then there is no reason to believe Jaquez wouldn’t thrive again as sixth man.

But there also could be a bit of future thought, considering Jaquez becomes extension-eligible this summer. Considering Jaquez would be eligible for a package north of $200 million, the Heat’s trade deliberations with the runner-up for 2026 NBA Sixth Man of the Year likely will come down to their long-view projections.

Pelle Larsson, Kasparas Jakucionis: And then there is the youth, the cost-efficient prospects who preferably would be able to grow with the next roster rendition, a pair of players with skill sets that complement.

Yet as much as the Heat see promise ahead for the duo, it is unlikely the Heat front office would draw a line here if star-caliber talent was available in a deal.

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Dru Smith, Myron Gardner: If their salaries are needed to balance out a trade, so be it. With Smith, it, of course, only then would be a matter of time until he cycles back to the Heat.

Simone Fontecchio, Keshad Johnson, Jahmir Young: The other three players who finished the season on standard contracts are impending free agents, and therefore cannot be dealt.

IN THE LANE

THE OLYNYK LOOK: Former Heat center Kelly Olynyk continues to be a contributing veteran presence even without contributing on the court. As The Athletic noted, when the San Antonio Spurs were in Miami for their March 23 game at Kaseya Center, Olynyk brought his tailor to the Four Seasons to have all 18 players on the Spurs roster fitted for suits. Those suits then were broken out for the Spurs’ playoff opener, a black-on-black look. Olynyk said the suits were something former Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo did for him when Olynyk was a Celtics rookie. “When we made the playoffs, I was like, ‘You know what? Let’s do it for everybody,’ ” said Olynyk, with the Jay Amin stylings running about $36,000 for the team. “I thought, ‘Let’s do something. Let’s do it together and show everybody we’re here, we’ve arrived and we’re ready to go,’ ” said Olynyk, who developed a friendship with Amin during his time with the Heat.

GLAD TO BE BACK: Having missed the season’s first 67 games with a foot injury, former Heat guard Max Strus is savoring his playoff run with the Cleveland Cavaliers. “Something you love is taken away from you and it’s hard to deal with that,” Strus told Cleveland.com. “You just want to be out there. You just want to help. You just want to play. When you do something for so long and you have so much love for the game, you don’t want to miss it.” And then? A 24-point playoff debut in a victory over the Toronto Raptors. “I think that’s the hardest part of it —going through that mentally of how can I help the team? And when you physically can’t, it’s hard. But it just makes getting back to this moment and playing in the playoffs, it makes it all worth it.”

BY CHOICE: Yes, the Atlanta Hawks stole into the night from Madison Square Garden with a victory over the New York Knicks in the second game of that series, coming up with yet another victory in the series’ first game in Atlanta. But no, coach Quin Snyder said it was not a matter of losing to the Heat in that season finale at Kaseya Center in order to draw the Knicks at the start of the playoffs. Had the Hawks defeated the Heat on April 12, they instead would have opened the playoffs against the Cavaliers. “If we were fortunate enough to be playing in the playoffs, I think that was the goal for us, and then to be healthy,” Snyder said of sitting out his entire primary rotation in that loss in Miami. “The focus for us was on our health. There was no easy matchup, and we weren’t concerned about that as much as we were ourselves.”

STILL SHADY: Granted Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball was eliminated from the postseason a game after his trip took Heat center Bam Adebayo out of the postseason, but remorse remained minimal. “I tried to apologize and everything, to look out for Bam, mainly to make sure he’s OK,” Ball said ahead of the Hornets’ play-in loss to the Magic. “We don’t want nobody hurt in this league, ever. As long as he’s good, that helps my mind a little.” The NBA said had the proper ruling come in real time, Ball should have been ejected when Adebayo was sidelined early in the second quarter of that Heat season-ending overtime loss. “I mean, it’s all basketball,” Ball said. “I feel like Bam knows we never had nothing going on. I never really had anything with anybody.”

NUMBER

12. Years of a gap of same-team coaching tenure between the Heat’s Erik Spoelstra and next closest on that list if Steve Kerr were to step aside as Warriors coach. Spoelstra took over the Heat in April 2008. Kerr took over the Warriors in May 2014. Otherwise the coaches with the longest tenure with their current teams beyond Spoelstra would be the Clippers’ Tyronn Lue (October 2020) and the Thunder’s Mark Daigneault (November 2020), now that the Bulls’ Billy Donovan (September 2020) has stepped aside.