Report: The Miami Heat have been ‘in contact’ with Jazz, Pistons for Jarred Vanderbilt and Nerlens Noel

The Miami Heat have reportedly been “in contact” with the Utah Jazz and the Detroit Pistons for forward Jarred Vanderbilt and Nerlens Noel, Five Reasons Sports Heat insider Greg Sylvander reported Wednesday.

Vanderbilt was acquired by the Utah Jazz in the infamous Rudy Gobert trade over the offseason. In 49 games (41 starts), he’s averaging 8.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.1 steals per game. He’s shooting 55.3 percent from the floor while expanding his range; the 23-year-old has canned 19 of his 55 triples — a 34.5 percent clip — with all but a handful of his 3-point attempts from the corner.

Vanderbilt, listed at 6-foot-9, is a good screener, good defender and a very good vertical-and-lateral athlete who could hypothetically fill Miami’s need as a starting power forward, even with his floor-spacing limitations.

He’s in the second year of a three-year, $13.1 million deal that he signed before the 2021-22 season. Vanderbilt carries an inexpensive cap hit at $4.4 million, per Spotrac — so the Heat won’t be required to move much salary, should he be the only player coming back in any hypothetical deal. He also has a partially-guaranteed deal for next season; the former second-round pick will have just $300K guaranteed with the possibility of $4.7 million guaranteed if he’s not waived by June 30.

This is a developing story, stay tuned for details.