MIAMI —  Erik Spoelstra’s decision to move forward with his leading men in leading roles for the Miami Heat also clarifies the expectations of those in supporting roles.

In that regard, Sunday night’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center, featured a pair of teams prioritizing the role of role players — one that has it right, one trying to get it right.

For years, including last season’s championship run, the Thunder have shown that the right players in the right roles can be critical in support, in their case in support of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams.

With the Heat attempting to establish stability with the starting lineup of Bam Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins, Norman Powell, Tyler Herro and Davion Williams — the support system arguably is ample, if not necessarily anchored.

For the Thunder, the supporting players, those who have supported to championship heights are Alex Caruso, Luguentz Dort,  Ajay Mitchell, Isaiah Hartenstein, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe.

Now the Heat’s bid, with their starting lineup reset with Herro’s return, is to establish something similar in support — with the depth of the likes of Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Nikola Jovic, Pelle Larsson, Dru Smith, perhaps even rookie Kasparas Jakucionis.

The results so far? Uneven, at best.

During the just-completed trip that included losses to the Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves and Indiana Pacers, Spoelstra was asked about the evolution of the role player in the NBA.

His eyes lit up, as if asked to present a thesis sitting in his top drawer.

“It’s different,” Spoelstra said. “I always think who I thought was one of the best in this generation of being that kind of role player, and you have to say that as the ultimate compliment, because some players view that as an indictment on their ability. It’s not.

“Shane Battier had a whole career of just embracing that and making good teams great because of all the winning intangibles that he brought to the table. And some fans weren’t able to see it. But the fans and the people that he was around in an organization, they could feel it and see it right away.”

Battier, who remains in the Heat organization with the title of strategic advisor, proved to be a catalyst to the Heat’s 2012 and ’13 championship teams, as a supporting player to the Big Three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Finding those willing to accept, adjust and adapt in such a role, Spoelstra said, goes beyond scoring and statistics.

“It has evolved,” he said of the role of role players. “But I think it’s more of a mentality rather than like a skill set. It’s finding the right kind of player that will embrace that and take pride in that role.”

Spoelstra then cited other Heat examples.

“I used to always say about P.J. Tucker, and this was obviously a few years ago, but I said that there should be a case study in guys like him and Udonis Haslem when they do the Rookie Symposium and do the education that they do on all these different areas, which are great,” Spoelstra said of the annual, mandatory league gathering of draft picks and rookies. “But also an education of how you can impact winning in ways that are not necessarily celebrated.”

With the Heat’s current alignment, the scoring figures to be concentrated with Herro, Powell and perhaps Wiggins.

That means other means of success for the role players, as has been the case with the Thunder, where the scoring averages haven’t been high with Caruso and Dort, but where the success level has been off the charts.

“Because everybody wants to be that 30-point scorer, and yet there’s only a few of them,” Spoelstra said. “There’s a lot more players that have to fit into that category of being a role player but don’t want to do it. They’re hard to find.”

The search remains ongoing, but with Spoelstra believing the Heat are positioned for the franchise’s next wave.

“We’ve been fortunate enough that we’ve had some great ones over the years,” he said, with the Heat moving on to the thee-game homestand that continues Thursday night against the Boston Celtics.  “And on our current team right now, we have some very good ones and they’re going to continue to get better impacting the game, impacting winning.”