The Toronto Raptors have agreed to send Jermaine O’Neal and Jamario Moon to the Miami Heat in exchange for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks
The deal is pending league approval. All players involved would have to pass physicals as well, although they can be waived by agreement.
Marion was part of the Phoenix Suns deal in February 2008 that sent him and Banks to Miami for Shaquille O’Neal. Marion is in the last year of a deal that will pay him $17.8 million.
The Heat and the Raptors had discussed the deal for weeks and, with the trade deadline looming, decided to move forward. Miami also was linked to trade talk with several other teams, including Phoenix and Sacramento.
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 as 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 and Chris Bosh can be 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.