Miami Heat power forward Josh McRoberts goes against Atlanta Hawks' Mike Muscala. (Photo : Getty Images)
The Miami Heat are trying to trade Josh McRoberts to trim their current roster to the required 15 spots by the NBA but could not find a suitable trade partner for the veteran power forward.
McRoberts, who is entering his 10th year in the league this coming season, is on the Heat's trading block this summer as the team is in the process of cutting down their roster spots to 15 from its current 18. Stefan Jankovic and Okaro White were said to be on their way to getting released, but there is a toss-up between undrafted shooting guard Rodney McGruder and McRoberts.
CBS Sports indicated that Miami has been "trying to get Josh McRoberts off the roster for two years", but they cannot seem to find a suitable trade partner even today.
"It's not as if the Heat didn't already attempt to trade McRoberts, when they were looking for additional cap space to at least accommodate Dwyane Wade for 2016-17. If word from a party close to that situation was correct, the Heat quite literally could not even give McRoberts away," said South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Ira Winderman, "that no outside team wanted to take on his salary-cap hits that include a player option for 2017-18."
"In fact, it will be interesting to see how the Heat approach McRoberts this coming season, given the salary-cap advantages of him bypassing his player option for 2017-18. Because of his player option, if the Heat cut McRoberts this season they automatically would be on the hook for his entire 2017-18 salary counting against their cap."
Miami acquired McRoberts in the summer of 2014 and had high expectations for the big man after his impressive 2013-2014 season with the Charlotte Bobcats. He averaged 8.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.3 assists in 30.3 minutes per game starting and playing in 78 games for Bobcats head coach Steve Clifford at that time.
However, he was a flop with the Heat as he got injured in his first year in Miami. He did not return at 100 percent health and to make matters worse, the team found out that he was an ill-fit with the squad during actual games.
McRoberts never got to play more than 18 minutes a night since then and had only appeared in a combined 59 games for the Heat in the regular season in the past two years.
