NBA trade rumors 2016: Miami Heat looking to rebuild, may put veterans on the trade market

The Miami Heat is currently one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference, and pundits didn't expect the team to battle for a playoff spot after losing Dwayne Wade to the Chicago Bulls. Chris Bosh's bout with blood clot has also put his career in jeopardy and the Heat is reluctant to play him.

Since the team isn't going to get any better this season, sources believe that the Heat may decide to blow up the team and rebuild from scratch. Last week, team president Pat Riley admitted that they would have to rebuild, but they wanted to do it quickly.

"We're dealing with that word that you hate to use — that we have to rebuild. But we will rebuild quick. I'm not going to hang around here for three or four years selling this kind of song to people in Miami. We have great, great fans. They're frustrated. They've been used to something great over the last 10 years and so right now we're taking a hit. I think we can turn this thing around," he told WQAM's Joe Rose (transcribed by the Miami Herald).

Riley said the Heat wants to rebuild around their young core players, so they may keep Hassan Whiteside, Justise Winslow, Tyler Johnson and Josh Richardson. This also means the team's veteran players will be on the trading block, so expect Goran Dragic's name to come up a lot in trade rumors in the next few weeks.

Dragic is the team's most prolific veteran player, and a lot of contenders would love to acquire a player with his skills. Reports have already linked him with the Bulls, the Sacramento Kings and the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Surprisingly, one report says that the Heat may even trade Whiteside to the Los Angeles Lakers for Lou Williams and Timofey Mozgov. Williams can be a sparkplug off the bench, and Mozgov is a serviceable center. But trading a player of Whiteside's caliber for those two just doesn't make sense. The team wants talented young players, not players who are older than Whiteside.

It will be interesting to see how the Heat turns things around especially with a president like Riley wheeling and dealing on the trade market.