Douglas Will Remain in Miami as Heat Matches the Lakers’ Offer

For Laker fans waiting for reinforcements, keep waiting.

The Miami Heat announced Saturday it was matching the Laker offer to point guard Sherman Douglas.

By NBA rules, the Lakers are now barred from even trading for Douglas this season.

The Lakers wrote a clause into Douglas’ offer, giving him the right to be an unrestricted free agent after next season. The Heat is happy with its present point guards and, according to NBA sources, spent the last two weeks trying to trade Douglas. But faced with giving him up for nothing, the Heat bit the bullet and matched the offer.

“We’re disappointed,” said Mitch Kupchak, Laker assistant general manager. “Obviously it was something we thought we had a chance of accomplishing. We thought it was possible. We never thought it was probable.”

The Lakers still have the $1.25 million they got back when Magic Johnson retired. However, they have run out of available free agents to pursue.

Can they compete with their present roster?

“We can,” Kupchak said. “We might have to.”