The Miami Heat, coming off its worst season in a decade, has made some questionable moves this summer. As a result, the Heat should have lots of intriguing competition during training camp, which opens in about a month.

Erik Spoelstra Praises Young Heat Wing Who Is Expected To Compete For Minutes In Training Camp

Miami finished 10th in the Eastern Conference with a 37-45 record last year. Still, the Heat made the playoffs for the sixth straight season as they defeated Chicago and Atlanta in the NBA Play-In tournament. However, their playoff stay wasn’t long as the Cleveland Cavaliers swept them, getting outscored by 30 points a game.

Miami has been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in each of the last two seasons. So, the Heat decided to rebuild its roster to get under the luxury tax. The Heat selected Kasparis Jakucionis with the No. 20 pick in the June draft, which they acquired from Golden State in the Jimmy Butler trade deadline deal.

Miami also traded for Norman Powell. While the Heat added money in the Powell trade, they cleared cap space by sending Duncan Robinson to Detroit for Simone Fontecchio. They also dealt Haywood Highsmith to Brooklyn and signed Dru Smith to a standard deal.

Heat Training Camp Competitions

Miami has 14 players on standard contracts with salaries totaling $187.89 million, putting them at $1.8 million under the tax. Therefore, it is not expected that the Heat will sign a player to a standard contract before the season gets underway. They have been searching for a taker for Terry Rozier with no success.

While the Heat’s 15-man roster is set, they do have an open two-way roster spot. Myron Gardner and Vladislav Goldin are the Heat players on two-way deals. Ethan Thompson, Jahmir Young, and Steve Settle are on Exhibit 10 deals and are expected to be among the candidates for the last spot. The Heat could sign a few more players to training camp deals as those three bring the roster total to 19.

While the Heat is not expected to make any more adjustments this fall to the 15-man roster,  Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sentinel believes it is far from a balanced roster.

Where do the Heat stand six weeks before the start of camp?” Winderman wrote recently. With questions in the middle. And far more wings than seemingly can fit into Erik Spoelstra’s rotation.”

Heat’s Projected Rotation

What is known about the Heat’s 2025-26 rotation is very little. Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo, and Andrew Wiggins are the Heat’s certain starters. Powell will likely start alongside Herro as the 32-year-old is coming off a season with 21.8 points, though he had been among the top sixth men the previous two seasons.

If Powell doesn’t start, Spoelstra could go many directions. Rozier, Davion Mitchell, and Pelle Larsson could be in the mix. All three players started games for the Heat last season. Rozier and Mitchell make sense as they would take some ball-handling responsibilities away from Herro’s hands.

Rozier is coming off one of the worst seasons of his career with the Heat and is a defensive liability. Meanwhile, Mitchell played arguably the best basketball of his career after coming over from Toronto at the trade deadline. He shot the ball the best of his career, doesn’t turn the ball over, and is a pesky on-ball defender. Mitchell started three of the Heat’s four playoff games.

Heat’s Other Potential Starter

Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald said that it is possible that Spoelstra could use Adebayo and Kel’el Ware together with the first unit at the start of the season. Ware is coming off a solid rookie campaign, though he was much more productive as a starter, averaging a double-double in his 36 starts. The Heat were 15-21 in the games that the 21-year-old center started. He and Adebayo started all four playoff games against the Cavaliers.

If Ware doesn’t start, the other starting spot could come down between Nikola Jovic and Fontecchio. Jovic has shown improvement in each of his three seasons, though he only appeared in 46 contests this past season. Jovic is playing for his native Serbia in EuroBasket 2025 this summer, and Spoelstra checked up on the 22-year-old last week during his trip to Europe.

“Jovic’s challenge is staying healthy and carving out a consistent role in the Heat’s rotation after beginning last season as a starter, then being completely moved out of the rotation, and ultimately thriving in a sixth man role off the bench during the back half of the season,” Chiang said in an article today.

Like Larsson, Fontecchio is unlikely to open the season as a starter. Fontecchio was a major part of the Pistons’ second unit last season despite struggling mightily. Fontecchio could show that he is capable of being part of Spoelstra’s rotation with a solid showing for Italy in EuroBasket.

Second Unit Rotation

How the Heat’s starting unit shakes out will determine their second unit. Regardless of whether they start or not, Powell. Ware, Mitchell, and Jovic are slated to have significant roles this year.  That means that seven players will be competing for the Heat’s final three or four regular rotation spots.

Fontecchio, Rozier, Larsson, Jaime Jaquez, and Dru Smith figure to be the main competitors for these spots. Smith has been sidelined since Christmas with an Achilles tear, and there are questions about whether he will be ready for the start of the season. If Smith suffers a setback in his recovery, Jakucionis could get a chance to see some action.

Pelle Larsson
Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

But it is Larsson who could see the most significant jump this season among the Heat’s youngsters. The 24-year-old showed glimpses of his all-around game in his 55 regular-season appearances. However, he was much more productive and efficient in the 14 contests in which he saw significant minutes.

Larsson, who scored in double-figures in four of his last six regular-season starts, performed pretty well in his first playoff series appearance. The 6-5 wing played for the Heat’s summer league squad and will play for Sweden in EuroBasket.  He was highly efficient during the summer league, scoring in double-figures all six games, and showed some playmaking ability, though turnovers were an issue.

“We just want to have him as an all-around player,” Spoelstra said of Larsson during a television interview while he was in Stockholm last week. “He’s a very smart player, he’s a heady player, very skilled. So during summer league, we just had him handle the ball for us. It’s more for his player development. It’s not that we’re trying to turn him into a point guard. But the more skills you can add, the more it can help your team, and he’s a physical player. “We call him a bully with the basketball. He knows how to draw fouls, he knows how to get into the paint, and he’s improving his passing. We think with improved ball-handling, he’ll be able to take advantage of those skills even more.”

Photo Credit:  Sam Navarro, Imagn Images