This one is fairly straight forward for as complicated as this deal will have to be to get done. Each team receives three players and there are 4 2025 draft picks involved.
Draft Pick Conveyance
In order to be able to send out 3 unprotected first to the Blazers the Heat would need an unconditionally owned 2025 pick. The Magic and Nets hold pretty much 4, though the Denver pick that Orlando owns is protected 1-5 (or it becomes a 2027 pick) , and the Nets own pick is subject to swap by Houston. To make the trade legal Miami has to be guaranteed a pick in the first round of the 2025 draft. The other picks involved are the Magic's own pick and the Nets unprotected pick from Phoenix.
Language: If the 1st round pick owed to the Magic from Denver conveys in 2025, all 4 picks shall be arranged in final order after the draft lottery. Amongst Orlando and Brooklyn the team with highest rated pick in draft position shall have the option to take highest rated pick and convey the 2nd and 3rd rated pick or take the 2nd and 3rd pick in order and convey to either Brooklyn or Orlando the 1st pick. The Miami Heat shall receive the 4th pick.
If the Denver pick does not convey in 2025 (highly unlikely) the team with the highest pick between Brooklyn and Orlando shall receive the first pick, among Brooklyn and Orlando who did not receive the 1st pick shall receive the 2nd pick and the Miami Heat the 3rd selection. Orlando shall retain future draft compensation from the Denver Nuggets.
For Instance in a Nutshell on the Draft pick language.
Basically let's say its 2025, Phoenix suffers a Durant and Booker injury, Beal and that scrub of a bench win 32 games end up in the lottery and "win" the lottery getting the first pick (or any lottery pull) the Nets can keep the first overall and send the 2nd and 3rd in order to the Magic , with the Heat getting the worst of 4 selections.
Likewise if the Magic suffer an extended Banchero injury and end up with the 11th pick in 2025, the Nets own pick is 17 and the Phoenix and Denver are coming out 22 and 25 , the Magic can take the 11th pick or 17 and 22 Miami always gets the last one available but its guarantied.
Player Movement
The Heat
They get Damian Lillard one of the top 75 All-Time NBA Players
Jusuf Nurkic who has some limitations but eats up plenty of regular season minutes for them
Chuma Okele who fell out of the Magic rotation last year after his injury and couldn't find his way back to it
They hold on to Mr. 2023 Jacquez Jr.
They get their 2025 2nd rounder back from the Nets They also lose not much cap space towards luxury tax apron #2 and limit it to 1 bad incoming contract (Nurkic)
The TrailBlzaers
They get Lowry who they probably buyout or keep for one season as a mentor
Johnny Isaac's with a voidable deal partially and then fully , they can play him out (hey they are tanking anyway) if by some miracle he's healthy he's a defensive stopper, but probably not after 3 seasons and they just walk away at the end of the year
Caleb Martin , Which makes their 3 positions starting Scoot - Sharpe - Martin , not too bad
3 Unprotected Future Firsts from Miami not great but all things considered given Lillard's agent squawking (hefty fine coming Lillards way which he can afford) they get the minimum they need
The Nets
They get to offload Ben Simmons clearing their books for 2025 and giving them some interesting options
Tyler Herro whose an offensive scorer bigger contract or not I think he's very interesting next to Spencer Dinwiddle
They get Cole Anthony a PG of the future or chief bench leader (he was Orlando's 6th man last season) his Dad has some historical ties to the Nets
They don't add too much in short or long term salary , still leaving them 11 million short of the tax line this season
Get the ultra efficient non-defensive liability Gary Harris for their rotation
They get protection in case their Phoenix pick, or their own and Houston's own suck in 2025
The Magic
So Ben Simmons is a head case with a previous back injury, however, if he were healthy and committed he'd fit the Orlando system of positionless basketball to a T and be the defensive stopper so they basically get to look at him the way the Trailblazers would be looking at Isaac, don't expect anything but after two seasons (instead of one on Isaac) they can just walk away
They get a very promising Cam Thomas who showed great shooting touch from deep last year, he gets an opportunity to be Orlando's starting shooting guard after his sophomore "leap" had him averaging double figures on 38% 3 point shooting (though he shot just 27% his rookie season so the jury is still a bit out
The get Jovic who appeared in just 15 games in his rookie year before getting injured, so not that much healthier than Chuma so far but he's on a cost controlled contract and if you are taking on Brick Simmons contract you'll want some cost controls elsewhere. Maybe he becomes part of Orlando's rotation maybe he doesn't it likely doesn't adjust the balance one way or the other
Obviously they get the same pick protection the Nets get
So who wins?
If the trade goes down this way, and obviously no one knows where picks will fall in 2025 (if you do give me a call I can book us a trip to Vegas) but I think overall its good pick protection. Miami gives up a bit more than they want to but I'll ask two questions:
**1. Who gets reported as winning this trade on Day One?
Who actually wins this 4-5 years down the line?