At the start of Wednesday, the Heat faced a luxury tax bill of $9.7 million. By the end of the day, that tax bill had been trimmed to $1.8 million.
A deal that sent Wayne Ellington and Tyler Johnson to Phoenix a day before the NBA’s trade deadline eliminated most of the Heat’s tax burden. Miami received 6-foot-10 power forward Ryan Anderson in return.
[Read Barry Jackson’s story on everything you need to know about the trade]
Anderson, 30, has had a solid NBA career. He averaged 19.8 points for New Orleans in 2013-14 and 17 points for the Pelicans in 2015-16.