NBA Free Agency Rumors: Danny Green has interest in signing with Heat

It’s hard to project how the Philadelphia 76ers’ offseason is going to shake out right now when the future of Ben Simmons is still unclear. Regardless of when a seemingly inevitable trade happens, though, there are still various matters to address in free agency. One of the most important? Trying to re-sign Danny Green.

There currently haven’t been too many reports indicating what Green may have in mind for his free agency this summer. The same goes for how much he could be paid. However, one new update from Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer did reveal that Green “is known to have interest in playing for the Heat.”

The Heat’s plans have been the biggest free agency talking point so far. As ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported, Miami is getting set to acquire Kyle Lowry in a sign-and-trade by sending Goran Dragic and Precious Achiuwa to the Raptors (Dragic, who just had his $19.44 million team option picked up by the Heat, could be sent elsewhere from Toronto, according to Wojnarowski). Miami is generally an attractive destination to players, and even though acquiring Lowry may not take them to the level of the Bucks or Nets, the fact they’re landing more talent could make them more intriguing to Danny Green if he’s interested in trying somewhere new.

Finding an upgrade or even just replacing Danny Green wouldn’t be easy at all for the Sixers, given their lack of financial flexibility and the limited options available to them on the free agent market. Besides re-signing their own free agents that they have Early Bird/Bird rights to, the Sixers only have two other options to bring in talent through free agency: the taxpayer midlevel exception (which starts at a salary worth $5.9 million), and minimum contracts.

Green was a highly valuable member of the Sixers last season. Doc Rivers and Green’s younger teammates always spoke highly of what he added as a mentor and leader, and on the court he was an ideal fit in an offense built around Joel Embiid. Green shot 40.5 percent from three on a team-high 6.3 attempts per game, always doing his part to keep the offense humming with crafty off-ball movement (his baseline “Danny Green Cut” alone was a great help), smart extra passes and dishes into the post, and a quick trigger to fire away from deep. Add in Green’s size at 6’6” and strong team defense, and it should go without saying that the Sixers need to do what they can to keep him this summer.

For all those reasons, Green is going to command interest from other teams (including contenders) around the NBA. How his free agency plays out is going to be a key storyline to follow from a Sixers standpoint in the coming days.