NBA Rumors: 3 trades that send Houston Rockets’ John Wall to the Miami Heat

The Houston Rockets are in the midst of a 13 game losing streak that has seen them go from a playoff contender to a lottery-bound franchise. However, their plunge down the standings has crystalized their status as a trade deadline seller.

Tom Haberstroh of TrueHoop believes that the Miami Heat are in pursuit of another star and could look at John Wall as a target. The Heat have other options, such as Kyle Lowry, but if they come up empty and need another marquee player, who will cost less to acquire, then John Wall remains a fantastic option.

The Heat have rebounded from a poor start to the season but the team still has a serious Jimmy Butler problem. It isn’t that Butler has been poor, it’s actually the exact opposite, when Butler is on the court the Heat are awesome, +5.95 points per 100 possessions, but when he sits they’re a total mess, -6.5 points per 100 possessions.

If the Heat are going to make another run at the Finals they’re going to need another star player to take the pressure off of Butler and allow the team to stay afloat when he sits. John Wall isn’t as good as Butler but his game is similar enough that if the Heat stagger their minutes they’ll have a like-for-like floor general on the court for the entire game.

The two’s statistics show similar players who also have enough complementary skills to co-exist. It makes it easy to see why the Heat would be interested in bringing in Wall to compliment Butler.

                 PTS     AST     REB     FG%     3P%     FTA     FT%

Wall:      21.0    6.0     3.2     42.4%   34%       5.3     74.4%

Butler:   20.5   7.8     7.5      45.4%  23.5%    8.3     86.3%

Butler brings a better overall package but Wall is a significantly better 3-point shooter which would allow them to play together without killing the Heat’s spacing. The other reason why Wall makes a lot of sense for Miami is that outside of salary he won’t cost as much to acquire as a player like Kyle Lowry.

The Rockets would be ecstatic to have Wall’s contract off the books as they enter their rebuild and Wall would relish the chance to be on a contending team. These are three trades that send John Wall to the Miami Heat.

Next: Trade #3