This may not be a preview to 2014, when LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh hold their opt-out clauses, but the Heat are in the midst of having the opportunity to experience some of the more chilling aspects of the NBA's new collective-bargaining agreement.
Last Sunday, it was Rudy Gay in a Toronto Raptors uniform. Wednesday, it was James Harden as a member of the Houston Rockets. And Thursday, when the Heat visit the Oklahoma City Thunder for the first time since last season's NBA Finals, it will be with Kevin Martin cast in the role of Harden.
New faces in different places, with the repositioning based almost entirely on money.
"It's the economics of our business," Heat forward Shane Battier said.
For Battier, that meant seeing his previous team, the Memphis Grizzlies, ripped apart by the Gay trade, amid concerns of an impending luxury-tax hit, just as the Grizzlies appeared to be hitting their stride.
And that's the rub. While the opt-out clauses of James, Wade and Bosh certainly will create pause for the Heat, the reality is that if Micky Arison is willing to pay, those three can continue to play, without issue, in Heat colors. There is no mechanism in place that prevents Arison and the Heat from paying maximum salaries to all three in revised deals.
Ditto for whatever the television-rich Los Angeles Lakers or New York Knicks opt to do going forward with their escalating payrolls.
Instead, two of the first teams to capitulate to the new collective-bargaining agreement were small-market teams, the very franchises the post-lockout CBA were supposed to protect.
"It goes both ways," Battier rationalized. "For a small town, it's hard to swallow, like Memphis. But, at the same time, look at the flip side. Now a team like Toronto can get a Rudy Gay and a team like Houston can get a James Harden.
"And so the ultimate question is what's better: To have a few powerhouse teams or to spread out talent so more teams are competitive?"
Considering he plays for the Heat, a talent-laden collection that afforded Battier his first championship, one would expect that answer to have been self-evident.
But, for the moment, Battier was talking about the greater good.
"I wouldn't sell short the fact that you can give teams that have been historically poor basically a chance now to get guys," he said, which, truth be told, might be particularly true for the Raptors, who have had little luck luring A-list free agents north of the border.
By contrast, Battier said it could come down to contenders weighing contention vs. salary, the way many on the Heat roster did during their most recent contract negotiations, James, Wade and Bosh included.
"Unless you have ultimate sacrifice like this team did, it's very difficult to get a Big Three anymore," he said.
Or, for that matter, get the complementary pieces needed to support such a Big Three.
But, again, he turned to the greater good, where the Raptors can rebrand themselves with Rudy Gay, where the Rockets can rise from the ashes of the Yao Ming era with a James Harden.
"I don't mind that," Battier said. "I don't mind seeing a more robust league. That's what the CBA was designed to do."
To Battier, the CBA didn't fail Memphis or Oklahoma City. He said that still, ultimately, comes down to players and management.
"The CBA was designed to disburse talent, regardless of market," he said. "You could still keep that team together; it's gonna cost you. So how bad do you want to win a championship?
"And that's a question only an owner can answer."
IN THE LANE
AT LAST: Patrick Beverley finally made it to a regular-season game at AmericanAirlines Arena this past week, albeit as a member of the Houston Rockets. Acquired by the Heat in the second round of the 2009 NBA Draft, the defensive-minded guard was in camp with the Heat in 2009 and '10 and wound up getting guaranteed contracts for two seasons from the team despite never making the Heat regular-season roster. Now back from a successful tour in Europe, Beverley gave thanks for the initial opportunities. "I got caught up in how the business is and that's normal in the NBA," he said. "I made some lifetime friends here. The coaching staff was great for me. They helped me develop my game." The irony is Beverley was acquired by the Heat in the same draft that they surrendered second-round rights to now-thriving Sacramento Kings guard Marcus Thornton. "They showed they had a lot of interest in me and I was definitely in the mix of making the team," Beverley said of his two camp stints with the Heat. "But at the end of the day, the money was good, though."
NO FEUD: For once, it appears a Heat-Cleveland Cavaliers debate will end peacefully. Cleveland coach Byron Scott and Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving both said they could accept Heat coach Erik Spoelstra possibly selecting Chris Bosh as an All-Star Game replacement starter for Rajon Rondo instead of going with Irving as a truer positional replacement. "He's the coach; he's earned that right to pick who he wants," Scott told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "I have a lot of respect for Erik, so I have no problem." Said Irving, "I'm just excited to be part of the All-Star Game, whether I’m a starter or not."
KOBE ON LEBRON: Included in ESPN's interview with Kobe Bryant was an interesting comment from the Los Angeles Lakers guard on LeBron James' refusal to get involved in trash talk. "I say everything to LeBron. He says nothing back. He just laughs," Bryant said, with the teams to meet Sunday at AmericanAirlines Arena. "There's no banter back and forth. I guess it's a generational thing. When I first came into the league, the trash talk was downright cutthroat."
VANITY ISSUE: Apparently Ohio is cleaning the streets for a LeBron return to Cleveland, with the Heat guard holding a 2014 opt out. The Dayton Daily News reported recently that several anti-LeBron vanity plates have been rejected by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles there, including "IH8LBJ" and "LBJSUCK" and "LBJSUX." (Or perhaps there's some lingering Lyndon Baines Johnson resentment.)
NEW ROLE: With recently acquired Jose Calderon taking over at the point for the Detroit Pistons, it leaves Pine Crest product Brandon Knight as arguably the lightest shooting guard in the league. "Having a different look might really help us," Knight, 6 feet 3 and generously listed at 189 pounds, told the Detroit News. "I'm looking at all the positive possibilities that can come of this." Pistons executive Joe Dumars sold the move to Knight as something similar to when Dumars played alongside Isiah Thomas for the Pistons, in a twin-point approach.
NUMBER
187. Games it took LeBron James to reach 5,000 points with the Heat. Previous fastest to 5,000 for the Heat was Dwyane Wade, who did it in 218 games.
iwinderman@tribune.com. Follow him at twitter.com/iraheatbeat.
