MIAMI — Shawn Marion’s most memorable play with the Miami Heat was his last.
Hours after Marion’s last-second dunk lifted the Heat past the Chicago Bulls, he was traded today to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Jermaine O’Neal, ending a weeks-long saga involving the expected deal.
NBA officials approved the swap this afternoon by conference call, the Heat said. The deal also has Marcus Banks and cash considerations going to Toronto and Jamario Moon and a conditional draft pick to Miami.
Miami and Toronto discussed the long-awaited deal for weeks and, with the trade deadline looming Wednesday, decided to move forward.
Miami also was linked to trade talk with several other teams, including Phoenix and Sacramento.
Neither the Heat nor the Raptors had any immediate comment. NBA officials must approve the trade, which typically happens by conference call, and it was unclear if that would occur later today.
Marion — whom Miami acquired just more than a year ago from Phoenix for Shaquille O’Neal — was referred to by both Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and president Pat Riley in recent weeks as the team’s “second-best player” behind Dwyane Wade.
He took a bounce pass from Wade and dunked with 1.1 seconds left Thursday night, giving Miami a 95-93 win and sparking the sort of on-court, chest-bumping celebration that’s rarely seen in the regular season.
It was his last hurrah, though, with Miami.
In Phoenix for all-star weekend, Wade did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the trade, saying he would wait until the deal was officially announced.
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 like 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.
