Heat-Raptors Trade Grades: Miami Brings In Davion Mitchell

After trading their disgruntled superstar, the Miami Heat aren’t done making moves. They used a player involved in the Jimmy Butler deal (PJ Tucker) to acquire Davion Mitchell from the Toronto Raptors. Along with Tucker, the Heat will also be sending a second-round pick and cash to the Raptors. ESPN’s Shams Charania was first to report the trade.

The Toronto Raptors are trading Davion Mitchell to the Miami Heat for PJ Tucker, a second-round pick and cash, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/J9vBISwuh4

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 6, 2025

Both Teams Making Money Moves

At a glance, this may seem like an attempt from the Heat to bolster their roster with someone who clearly fits their hard-nosed identity in Mitchell as they prepare for a playoff push. And while it is true Mitchell’s penchant for tenacious on-ball defense is just the thing to keeps a guy like team president Pat Riley going, the Heat also had financial incentives for making this move.

Davion “off-night” Mitchell 😮‍💨 amazing addition for the heat defense pic.twitter.com/v69eeUcLDh

— Heat Clips 🎬 (@Demar305) February 6, 2025

As pointed out by Keith Smith, in trading Tucker for Mitchell, the Heat now get under the first apron.

Heat should get under the first apron by swapping out PJ Tucker for Davion Mitchell.

That opens Miami up to being a player on the buyout market.

— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) February 6, 2025

Outside of avoiding additional tax penalties, by ducking the first apron, the Heat can now sign guys on the buyout market, regardless of what their prior contract looked like. While in the first apron, teams cannot sign players on the buyout market if they were previously being paid more than the midlevel exception.

As for the Raptors, they’re using their cap space to eat Tucker’s contract — they’ll probably reach a buyout with him — and acquire another second-round pick.

Grading The Deal

Miami Heat: A-

This is an all-around great deal by the Heat. They move off of Tucker’s contract and get under the first apron, which allows them to be a serious presence in the buyout market. On top of that, they acquire Mitchell, a player on an expiring contract who makes for a good replacement to Dru Smith, who’s lost for the season with a torn Achilles. Ultimately, though, it’s still a fairly minor move, so it’s hard to be over the moon about the transaction and its impact on the franchise’s bigger picture.

Toronto Raptors: B+

The Raptors did what has become a new trend among rebuilding teams: use their cap space to take on bad contracts and gain additional draft capital. Not a super creative move, but it does net them a second-round pick and opens up more minutes for their intriguing rookie, Jamal Shead.