The Lakers acquire former Rookie of the Year and NBA champion Andrew Wiggins to team up with LeBron James and Luka Doncic ahead of the 2025-2026 NBA season.
The Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat have come a long way since meeting in the NBA finals in the 2020 season inside the bubble. The Lakers have since shaken up the NBA landscape by swapping their All-Star center, Anthony Davis, for the Mavericks ‘ star point forward Luka Doncic.
The Heat made a major splash of their own by trading All-Star Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for Andrew Wiggins. The Heat had another crack at the title in 2023 before falling 4-1 to the Nikola Jokic-led Nuggets. The furthest the Lakers have been since their championship was the Western Conference Finals in 2023, also falling at the hands of the Joker.
Both teams seem to be heading in different directions as the Lakers are trying to squeeze every last moment of greatness out of future Hall of Famer LeBron James, and the Heat are just trying to find themselves.
So what’s next for these two historic franchises? Yes, another massive trade involving a former All-Star, this time sending Andrew Wiggins to the Lakers. Here’s what it might look like.
Los Angeles Lakers-Miami Heat NBA Mock Trade
Lakers Receive:
Andrew Wiggins
Heat Receive:
Rui Hachimura
Gabe Vincent
2 Future first round picks
Wiggins is a former Rookie of the Year, All-Star, and NBA champion. He would provide much-needed veteran experience for a Lakers team that is looking to contend for a title in the 2025-2026 NBA season. LA also trades Hachimura a year before he potentially walks in free agency ahead of the 2026-2027 season. Could Wiggins really team up with the guy who put on a poster a few years ago?
The Miami Heat are in a transitional phase as a franchise. After trading Butler to the Warriors at last season’s deadline, it feels like the Heat are lacking an identity. Although this trade might not fully solve this issue, it allows them to acquire younger talent and draft capital to give them flexibility to look towards the future. Hachimura is a defensive-minded pest who also excels beyond the arc. Pairing him with Bam Adebayo could result in a new culture in South Beach that focuses on defensive tenacity.
The biggest winner of this trade is Hachimura. He goes from a Lakers team that saw its two star players take most of the shots to a Heat team that spreads the ball around more, creating more scoring opportunities. Rui is currently the fourth option in Los Angeles behind King James, Luka, and Austin Reaves, and while he’d likely remain the fourth option in Miami, he’s playing with guys who aren’t nearly as ball dominant as James and Doncic. This will result in an uptick in opportunities and ultimately more counting stats.
Other beneficiaries of this trade are Tyler Herro and newly acquired Norman Powell, who will look to continue to score the basketball at a high clip after both averaging over 20+ points a game a season ago. With Wiggins out of the picture, Herro becomes the undisputed top option on offense while Powell emerges as the clear-cut three-point specialist, though Hachimura also brings that skill set to the table.
