Click Here

 
You are Here: Home > Heat swap Shawn Marion for Jermaine O'Neal
Heat swap Shawn Marion for Jermaine O'Neal
By TIM REYNOLDS, AP Sports Writer
Feb 13, 2009 - 4:40:15 PM

Email this article
Printer friendly page

MIAMI – Shawn Marion's most memorable play with the Miami Heat was his last. Hours after Marion's last-second dunk lifted the Heat past the Chicago Bulls, he was traded Friday to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Jermaine O'Neal, ending a weeks-long saga involving the expected deal. NBA officials approved the swap Friday afternoon by conference call, the Heat said.

In this jan. 30, 2009 file photo, Toronto Raptors forward Jermaine O'Neal looks on after being ejected from the game by referee Monty McCutchen while playing against the Milwaukee Bucks during second half NBA action in Toronto. O'Neal has been traded from the Raptors to the Miami Heat for Shawn Marion .As part of the deal, Marcus Banks goes to Toronto and Jamario Moon to Miami. The Heat also get a conditional draft pick, cash considerations, or both. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Nathan Denette)


Toronto also gets guard Marcus Banks and cash considerations, while Miami will receive forward Jamario Moon and a future first-round draft pick, to come sometime between 2010 and 2015. It's lottery-protected, essentially meaning the first time the Raptors make the playoffs after this season, their first-rounder goes to Miami.

If Miami does not get that first-round pick in 2010, it will get an additional second-round pick that year.

Miami and Toronto discussed the deal for weeks and, with the trade deadline looming Wednesday, decided to move forward. Miami also was linked to trade talk with several other teams, including Phoenix and Sacramento, and perhaps was able to coax the draft pick out of Toronto by waiting so long to make the deal.

All players involved will likely have to pass physicals, which can be waived by agreement.

Marion — whom Miami acquired just over a year ago from Phoenix for Shaquille O'Neal — was referred to by both Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and president Pat Riley in recent weeks as the team's "second-best player" behind Dwyane Wade.

He took a bounce pass from Wade and dunked with 1.1 seconds left Thursday night, lifting Miami to a 95-93 win and sparking the sort of on-court, chest-bumping celebration that's rarely seen in the regular season.

It was his last hurrah, though, with Miami.

Marion was a key part of Miami's 28-24 start to this season, averaging 12 points (third on the team behind Wade and Michael Beasley, who now could replace him in the starting lineup at small forward) and a team-best 8.7 rebounds.

But he wanted a long-term contract, something Miami was not willing to provide.

One of Miami's primary areas of concentration, just like every other team in the NBA, is keeping cap space clear for the summer of 2010, when the likes of Wade, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Amare Stoudemire and Chris Bosh can become free agents.

And this trade clears another $4.8 million in cap room for that summer; that's what Banks, who had fallen out of the rotation in Miami, would have been owed in the 2010-11 season.

Plus, it gets Miami a true center in Jermaine O'Neal. The 30-year-old averaged 13.5 points and seven rebounds for Toronto, but has been slowed by injuries. He's owed nearly $23 million next season, but that money won't affect Miami's free-agent plans for 2010.

Miami has played an array of players at center this season, including Jamaal Magloire, Joel Anthony, Mark Blount and even Udonis Haslem, a forward who gives up several inches in height and at least 20 pounds to every other true center in the NBA.

Banks averaged 2.6 points in 16 games with Miami this year. Moon averaged 7.3 points in 54 games with Toronto, and becomes a free agent after this season.

With Banks gone, Miami has only two true point guards on the roster: Mario Chalmers and Chris Quinn. The Heat do have room to sign another player, so it's likely Riley will pursue either picking up a guard through free agency or making another trade.


Copyright 2007 - MOP Squad Sports

Top of Page