The 1 team that must gamble on Zach LaVine trade

In case you haven't heard, Zach LaVine has among the worst trade value of any player in the NBA, with Bobby Marks going so far as to suggest that the Chicago Bulls may have to include a first-round draft pick just to move on from the two-time All-Star in a trade.

“Literally, there is no market for Zach LaVine. They are trying to give him away and attach a first-round pick,” Marks noted via Bleacher Nation. “I've been told that by multiple, multiple people. And that is not happening.”

Depressing stuff, right? For fans of the Bulls, you bet, but in the NBA, first-round picks have multiple uses, with some teams going so far as to trade one away – or the new hot trend, multiple seconds – just to get off of a “bad” contract for one reason or another, as the Denver Nuggets did earlier this summer by trading Reggie Jackson to the Charlotte Hornets.

Therefore, maybe the Bulls don't have to attach an asset to get off of LaVine – if Marks' reporting is correct – but instead could take back a less-than-ideal contract to help facilitate a deal. But which team is looking to get better, has an interesting asset the Bulls might appreciate, and is looking to get off of a “bad” contract that has already cost them in the pursuit of multiple quality players?

The Miami Heat have entered the trade machine with a fairly interesting offer.

The Miami Heat have the right assets to burn on Zach LaVine

After watching the rest of the best teams in the East get better with the additions of Mikal Bridges, Paul George, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, the Heat find themselves an objectively worse roster than when the summer began, with Caleb Martin leaving South Beach for South Philadelphia, and many of their top targets, from DeMar DeRozan to Tyus Jones, opting to take their talents elsewhere.

Factor in the frequent unavailability of Jimmy Butler, the less-than-ideal fit of Terry Rozier, and the decision to pass on ready-made contributors like Jared McCain and Dalton Knecht for a backup center in the draft, and it's worth wondering if the Heat need to make a pretty big deal to get back into contention.

In LaVine, the Heat have an opportunity to do just that.

Sure, LaVine's flaws are incredibly well reported, but the discourse has swung so far in that direction that fans have more or less forgotten how effective a player the UCLA product can be when he's on, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

Standing 6-foot-5, 200, LaVine averaged 24.2 points per game on 46.4 percent shooting from the field and 38.2 percent shooting from beyond the arc on pretty impressive volume in Chicago, all the while providing electricity in the full-court game with his Dunk Contest-worthy jams. LaVine can play on-ball or off, space the floor or drive to the basket, and ultimately keep the ball moving, as his 4.3 assists per game in Chicago clearly proves.

Hmmm, a mostly one-way guard/forward who can play on-ball or off, score from all three levels, and scale his role depending on who he shares the court with? Who does that sound like?

That would be Tyler Herro, only better.

Now, for fans who have been keeping up with the Heat for some time now, no player has seen their stock vary as dramatically as Herro, with the former first-round pick living up to his name in some games and looking borderline unplayable in others.

Right now, all appears to be well in Herro land, as he played well enough for the Heat against Boston, but will he ever take his talents up to the level of LaVine, let alone pass him by to become an All-Star caliber scorer, let alone one who makes it to the game twice?

That feels unlikely.

If the Heat feel like they have reached their ceiling with Herro, or believe that he has become redundant playing alongside the likes of Jaime Jaquez, why not trade him to Chicago for an objectively better player in LaVine, especially if they can get off of Duncan Robinson's contract too? Considering the Michigan sharpshooter also has dubious trade value, getting off his long-term money could make acquiring LeVine all the more enticing.

Duncan Robinson's trade value has already hurt the Heat

As the Heat attempted to improve their roster with a premier offensive player, be that a true point guard like Jones or a three-level scorer like DeRozan, one of the biggest hangups, at least according to Bobby Marks, has been the contract of  Robinson, who opposing teams simply do not want to trade for at this point in the summer.

“Heat fans want more. They want more, they see what Boston did last year, they see what New York has done, they saw with certainly Philadelphia as far as loading up here,” Marks explained via Newsweek. “But as Zach said, what else can you do? They are limited on their draft picks they can send out. They would have loved to get DeMar DeRozan. They tried as heck to get DeMar DeRozan, nobody wanted Duncan Robinson, no offense. They have one first-round pick to trade. They wanted Tyus Jones, they couldn't make a deal here.”

If Robinson really is a negative asset, adding him to Herro, who does have value, could be enough to do a two-for-one trade with the Bulls to bring Miami back the best player in the trade in LaVine, all the while swapping out two contracts with two years left on them for one that has three if you count the player option. For the Bulls, this would give the team flexibility moving forward, as they could trade one or both players in the future or simply keep them as part of their developing young core. And as for the Heat? Well, they get a 24-ppg scorer who has experience playing with Butler and can give the additional regular season minutes to young players they like instead of hoping Robinson can keep his next hot streak going indefinitely. All in all, a win-win of a hypothetical trade for all parties involved.