MIAMI — The sexiest part of the process is not always the most intriguing for the Miami Heat when it comes to the NBA draft.

That could make Wednesday night another case study — squared — for the Heat’s scouting staff, with the draft now a two-night process featuring the second round on Wednesday night. Then, after that, comes the late-night undrafted free-for-all that has paid its own dividends for the Heat in recent years.

With the Heat shipping Tuesday night’s No. 13 first-round pick to the Milwaukee Bucks in the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade, it means a waiting game for Adam Simon, Keith Askins and the Heat scouting staff to spring into action.

With their own second-round selection at No. 44 now in the hands of the San Antonio Spurs, the Heat hold the No. 41 selection that originally belonged to the Golden State Warriors and then was passed through the Charlotte Hornets.

The Heat over the years have thrived in such draft position, including No. 44 pick Pelle Larsson two years ago and No. 40 Josh Richardson in the second round a decade earlier.

But it is when the drafts have ended that the Heat also have swooped in for undrafted success stories, most notably Duncan Robinson in 2018, Larsson’s Arizona teammate Keshad Johnson in 2024 and then undrafted center Vlad Goldin last year.

Based on the Heat’s position against the first-apron hard cap created by the Antetokounmpo trade, the Heat are left with $18 million to round out their standard roster. That could create opportunity not only for the player selected at No. 41 on Wednesday, but other low-cost undrafted options, with the Heat typically identifying such NBA-quality prospects ahead of time and then swooping in with offers of two-way spots, small guarantees or summer-league roster spots shortly after the draft. The Heat then will get to test out those prospects during a pair of summer leagues in San Francisco and Las Vegas over a three-week period in July.

Going forward, because of surrendering a 2033 second-round pick to the Bucks in the Antetokounmpo trade, the Heat have only two remaining tradeable second-rounds picks available: Wednesday night’s No. 41 and a highly protected 2031 selection that likely will fall to the end of that second round.

The Mitchell angle

Multiple NBA sources confirmed to the Sun Sentinel that an earlier construct of the Heat’s proposal for Antetokounmpo included Davion Mitchell instead of Kasparas Jakucionis.

The Bucks, however, insisted on the youthful promise and rookie-scale contract of Jakucionis.

With Jakuionis earning $3.8 million next season and Mitchell $12.4 million, the inclusion of Mitchell in place of Jakucionois could have prevented the Heat from winding up hard-capped.

Mitchell has only the 2026-27 season remaining on his contract.

Giannis extension

The next order of business for the Heat with Antetokounmpo will be an extension. Among the Bucks’ limitations in seeking offers for Antetokounmpo reportedly was his interest in extending only with the Heat, Celtics or Timberwolves.

Antetokounmpo is locked into a salary of $58.4 million for the coming season, eligible for a four-year, $275 million extension that would kick in a year from now. He also could opt into his 2026-27 player option and do a three-year extension.

An Antetokounmpo extension would settle in at salaries of about $62.8 million in 2027-28, $66.6 million in 2028-29, $71.9 million in 2029-30 and $75.5 million in 2030-31, when Antetokounmpo will be 36.