The NBA trade deadline provides teams the opportunity to alter their rosters before the stretch run of the season. They are not, however, the only people who get something out of this, as reporters are afforded the opportunity to flex a little bit and let people know that the time they have spent cultivating sources over the years has paid off in a big way.
As a result, it’s very, very, very rare for a trade to happen without word of it getting out into the Twitterverse before the teams announce it. But that happened on Wednesday afternoon, when the Miami Heat announced a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder that involves KZ Okpala, a pick from the Thunder’s hilarious stash of draft capital, and a fun caveat that helps Miami in its quest to make other moves.
OFFICIAL: The Miami HEAT have acquired a 2026 second round pick from the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for KZ Okpala.
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) February 9, 2022
“The 2026 second round pick will be the lessor from either Oklahoma City, Dallas or Philadelphia, which are owed to the Thunder,” Miami announced in a release. “Additionally, the HEAT and Thunder have agreed to amend the protections of the first round pick already owed to Oklahoma City via the Clippers originally from Miami to a 2025 first round protected pick, and if not conveyed, to a 2026 unprotected pick.”
Not bad! Anyway, they managed to announce this trade without Adrian Wojnarowski or Shams Charania or any of the other big names in the basketball reporting-sphere getting hold of it first, so congrats to the Heat and Thunder on that.