Dallas received Heat's agreement to select Arvid Kramer in the 1988 expansion draft from Miami Heat and sent 1988 first-round pick (#20-Kevin Edwards) in return.
Dallas sent Miami its 1988 first-round pick on June 23, 1988 in exchange for the Heat agreeing to select Arvid Kramer in the expansion draft. Kramer had not played an NBA game since 1979-80, so Dallas was not losing a current rotation contributor. The value to the Mavericks was strategic: Miami used its Dallas selection on a player outside the active NBA rotation instead of choosing another eligible Maverick.
The acquired pick landed at No. 20, where Miami drafted Kevin Edwards. He immediately started 62 games as a rookie, averaged 13.8 points and 4.4 assists, and earned All-Rookie recognition. Edwards followed with 78, 79 and 81 games over the next three seasons. Across those first four Heat seasons alone, he appeared in 317 regular-season games and became one of the expansion franchise’s earliest dependable backcourt players.
Miami selected Kramer first in the expansion draft, but he never played a regular-season game for the Heat. His NBA career consisted of eight Denver games in 1979-80. That does not make Dallas’s side valueless, because the entire purpose was controlling which player Miami removed from the Mavericks’ pool. The problem in hindsight is the price: Dallas surrendered a first-round asset that became a productive multi-year starter in exchange for protection rather than a player or draft return.
The Mavericks did obtain something they wanted on the transaction date: influence over which of their exposed players the new Heat franchise selected. Miami's agreement to choose Kramer served that purpose even though Kramer never suited up for the Heat. The limitation is that a protective agreement doesn't produce direct NBA games, a future pick, or a tradeable player for Dallas. The first-round pick moved the other way was real and immediately became selection No. 20, which Miami invested in Kevin Edwards. His 317 appearances across the Heat's first four seasons illustrate the concrete value Miami extracted from the arrangement. Dallas's actual roster-preservation benefit can't be reconstructed as a specific alternative player's career, so assigning that imaginary saved production would overstate the evidence. The grades compare the documented protection against Edwards' completed Miami production.
Heat Win — Miami A-, Dallas D. Dallas achieved its narrow goal by directing Miami toward Arvid Kramer, but the Mavericks paid the No. 20 pick to do it and received no player or draft asset back. Miami used that pick on Kevin Edwards, an All-Rookie guard who played 317 games in his first four Heat seasons. The trade illustrates the high cost expansion teams could extract for roster control, and the realized value strongly favors Miami.