There had been rumors all offseason that the Miami Heat had put Shabazz Napier on the trading block but it wasn't clear how serious the Heat were about trading him. Now it appears they were quite serious about the deal as there are reports of Napier being traded to the Orlando Magic according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
In return for Napier, who was a first round pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, the Heat are reportedly getting back a protected future second-round pick. There hasn't been any word on what this means for Mario Chalmers and his trade status as he was reportedly being shopped aggressively, but it would seem he would be more likely to stay now that Napier is on his way out.
Miami's reason for trading Napier was reportedly purely financial as they are currently in position to pay the penal repeater tax and, if that remains the case, they would be the first team to ever have to pay it according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com.
Napier is scheduled to make about $1.3 million next season but by trading him the Heat saved about $4.5 million when you take luxury taxes into account. Napier is coming off a very uneven rookie season with the Heat as he was back and forth between the D-League and the NBA and struggled when he played in Miami averaging 5.1 points in 19.8 minutes per game while shooting just 38 percent from the field.
Napier was a big time player in college at UConn having led his team to the 2014 National Championship where he won Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four. He will now join a young Orlando Magic team that has bolstered their point guard position. In addition to their starter Elfrid Payton, the Magic also brought in veteran backup C.J. Watson and now have Napier for depth. Napier should get a shot to show what he can do in Orlando as he is still only 24 years old and is a very capable scorer. Despite only shooting 38 percent from the field as a rookie Napier still made 36 percent of his three pointers which provides plenty of value in and of itself.
