NBA Rumors: Heat Not Interested In Chris Paul, Target Former NBA Champ

The Miami Heat is reportedly not pushing hard for Chris Paul at the moment but is starting to show interest in a former NBA champ.

A domino effect is what appears to be happening lately in the NBA as stars continue to be linked with rebuilding teams. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George's move to the Los Angeles Clippers started the chain. In turn, this resulted to Oklahoma City Thunder lone star Russell Westbrook wanting to leave the team before being sent to Houston Rockets in exchange for veteran All-Star point guard Chris Paul.

But the chain did not stop with Thunder landing Paul. From the look of how things are going, there is a possibility that Paul will be headed to another team once more as his new team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, has reportedly been trying to trade the former Rockets star to the Miami Heat, Miami Herald reported.

However, this may not go the way the Thunder wants it, at least not for now. According to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, who recently spoke with The Athletic, Heat does not have a strong interest and is not aggressively pursuing a trade for Paul at this time. Instead, the team has reportedly slowly started shifting its focus on former NBA champ Kevin Love.

Love was the third superstar in Cleveland Cavaliers' powerful trio back in 2016 when he, along with Kyrie Irving, won their first NBA title under the leadership of LeBron James. Since then, the Cavs have never won the title again until James and Irving decided to part ways with the team.

The Heat appears to be very aggressive lately in pursuing high-caliber stars. Over the past few days, Washington Wizards' dynamic duo Bradley Beal and John Wall had been linked with Miami. That is until Wizards’ vice president of basketball operations Tommy Sheppard finally clarified that Washington has no desire to trade either of the two All-Stars. In fact, Wizards want Beal to take part in some off-court advancements for the team. As for Wall, Washington is very hopeful that he will come back stronger in the future but still as a Wizard, The Athletic noted.

It is expected that the Heat will push hard for a star player whom they can pair with Jimmy Butler in the following days. However, it is still a question of how they would be able to pull off a deal, especially now that the biggest names in free agency market are already off-board.