MIAMI — Norman Powell wasn’t wrong. He was right.
There was a means where the Heat could have brought him back while also bringing in Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The Miami Heat weren’t wrong. They were right.
As the Giannis negotiations continued in June, there was an at-all-costs reality to the process.
So, yes, both truths can be correct.
But, ultimately, there only was one answer.
To review: In addressing his offseason shift from the Heat to the Chicago Bulls in free agency, Powell emphasized there never was an offer from the Heat, while also stressing there very much had been a pathway to his return.
The pathway, however, also was the road block.
For those confused, we’ll cut to the simple math.
As part of the Bucks’ controlling hand in the negotiations with the Heat over Giannis, a line in the sand was drawn even beyond the players and picks the Heat would have to sacrifice. That line was that Bobby Portis Jr. be included in the deal.
For the Bucks, such an approach made greatest sense, with Portis, who turns 32 in February, under contract at $14.5 million this coming season, then with a player option for $15.6 million in 2027-28.
For a team paying Damian Lillard $22.5 million a year over five years to not play for them (after he was waived and stretched while injured), offloading Portis stood as a priority.
Which brings it back to Powell and his free agency and his eventual ire.
Based on the $21.5 million Powell took from the Bulls for this coming season, the math, even with the Heat’s hard cap in place, clearly could have been there, even while taking on Antetokounmpo.
If no Portis on the Heat books at $14.5 million this coming season, and if no signing of Tim Hardaway Jr. at $6.1 million for this coming season, then — Voila! — just about the same salary available to Powell with the Heat as what he took from the Bulls.
That’s where it got somewhat ugly, with Powell mentioning how the Portis’ part of the Giannis process got in the way of his own intentions to return to the Heat, and then Portis taking it as somewhat of a slap that Powell raised his name.
In both cases, each of the players was correct.
Such is a reality of a salary-cap — and in the Heat’s current case, hard-cap — league that forces choices.
The Heat’s choice was that if they wanted Antetokounmpo, they had to take Portis.
They wanted Antetokounmpo; so they took Portis.
Still, Powell’s consternation is not without merit.
Legitimate merit.
Say, for example, the Heat, who already had agreed to toss Kasparas Jakucionis into the Giannis deal as a Bucks must-have, drew the line there, a line of Jakucionis, Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., 2031 and ’33 first-round picks, a 2032 first-round swap and a 2033 second-rounder.
Remember, Portis was separate math, taken into the Heat’s Duncan Robinson trade exception, essentially as a separate deal.
The current reality is that with Portis, the Heat, at the moment, stand with a starting lineup of:
— Center: Bam Adebayo
— Power forward: Giannis Antetokounmpo
— Small forward: Andrew Wiggins
— Point guard: Davion Mitchell
— Shooting guard: TBD
However, if Portis was not taken on as a plus-one in the Giannis deal, then quite likely a starting lineup of:
— Center: Bam Adebayo
— Power forward: Giannis Antetokounmpo
— Small forward: Andrew Wiggins
— Point guard: Davion Mitchell
— Shooting guard: Norman Powell.
Yes, Portis provides welcomed depth in a power rotation that otherwise, at the moment, only counts slow-footed Vlad Goldin on his two-way contract and Nikola Jovic, a power player who has insisted he is not a power player.
Taken further, if the Portis/Hardaway money had gone to Powell in a non-Portis Heat world, then there would not be quite the same seeming desperation to invest much of the remaining cap cash on a Mavericks buyout with Klay Thompson.
Yes, all hypothetical.
Bobby Portis Jr. is a member of the Heat and is expected to be a valued member in reserve.
And, yes, he has every right to feel slighted by those positioning him as a throw-in.
But after reaching All-Star status for the first time in his career, after keeping the Heat afloat through the first half of last season while Herro was sidelined, Norman Powell need offer no apology for feeling slighted.
In this case, both truths can be correct.
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