The Miami Heat lost a star player in Jimmy Butler when the team parted ways with him ahead of the trade deadline, and it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing since then.
Although Miami is currently enjoying an impressive winning streak, the Heat are still well below the .500 mark on the season with a record of 35-41 and recently endured the longest losing streak since the start of Erik Spoelstra’s head-coaching tenure.
Former Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague said that while he likes the current iteration of the Heat, he also thinks the team needs “one more piece” and mentioned star guard Trae Young as a hypothetical target.
Jeff Teague likes this Heat team but says they are one piece (a guard) away
“I like this team. They need 1 more piece, they need a guard. If they traded for Trae Young I wouldn’t be mad… We (hawks) really gonna ask for Kel’el Ware, he’s gotta come”
(Via @club520podcast) 🤔 pic.twitter.com/KSLpaQJZ5O
— Heat Culture (@HeatCulture13) April 3, 2025
Young would seemingly raise the Heat’s ceiling, partly because he’s long been one of the top scorers at the point guard position in the NBA. He’s averaged 24-plus points per game in every season after his rookie campaign and is currently averaging 24.1 while shooting 40.8 percent from the field and 33.4 percent from 3-point range in the 2024-25 season.
The former University of Oklahoma star has one of the highest career scoring averages in NBA history among players who have appeared in at least 400 games in the league. He’s averaging 25.3 points per game for his career, and that mark ranks in the top 15 in NBA history, ahead of legends like Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Steph Curry and others.
But for as much of a knack as Young has for putting the ball through the bottom of the net, he might be an equally gifted facilitator. He’s averaging a league-best 11.6 dimes per contest in his seventh season in the NBA and has averaged double digits in assists multiple times before.
Young’s passing chops were on full display in Atlanta’s recent win over the Milwaukee Bucks on March 30. The 26-year-old, who isn’t the most efficient player around, misfired on all but four of his 16 shot attempts from the floor but made up for his lackluster shooting game by dishing out 19 assists compared to only two turnovers.
Whether or not Young is a realistic trade target for the Heat is debatable, but the rationale for Miami trying to add him to its roster is there and abundantly clear.