{"id":262440,"date":"2026-05-07T19:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T19:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/262440\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T19:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T19:55:08","slug":"lessons-and-one-risk-for-heat-and-antetokounmpo-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/262440\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons and one risk for Heat. And Antetokounmpo update"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was April 10, 2022 \u2014 the final day of the NBA\u2019s regular season \u2014 that the Heat stood atop the Eastern Conference standings. It hasn\u2019t happened a single day in four seasons since.<\/p>\n

During those four years, which included a miraculous Jimmy Butler-led run from the play-in to the Finals in spring 2023 and three disappointing seasons since, a bunch of teams jumped the Heat. Nine teams finished ahead of them in this season\u2019s Eastern Conference standings.<\/p>\n

Those nine do not include the injury-riddled Pacers, who made the Finals last season and played without star guard Tyrese Haliburton this season.<\/p>\n

In fairness, the Heat has accomplished substantially more than all of those teams during the past 20 years. (Boston is closest, with four Finals appearances and two titles over that stretch, compared with seven and three for the Heat.)<\/p>\n

And it shouldn\u2019t be glossed over that most of these teams passed the Heat because they secured high draft picks as a result of intentional tanking or lots of organic losing.<\/p>\n

Three to 10 years of tanking or relentless losing helped Charlotte, Toronto, Detroit, Philadelphia and Cleveland at least get further than the Heat this season (for the Hornets, only a smidgen further).<\/p>\n

The Magic also assembled a roster of four top-seven draft picks mostly by losing a lot but has no playoff series wins (since 2010) to show for it.<\/p>\n

The Heat, frankly, could have schooled many of these teams on roster-building for the first 25 years of the Pat Riley era.<\/p>\n

For the Heat, there\u2019s no lesson to be learned from tanking. There\u2019s no lesson to be learned from Cleveland acquiring Donovan Mitchell, because a source with direct knowledge insists that Utah would have accepted no package from Miami that didn\u2019t include Bam Adebayo.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019m not going to sit here and say that most of these teams that jumped the Heat have discovered the magic elixir.<\/p>\n

But in our view, there are a few lessons that could be learned \u2014 or at least ideas worth considering \u2014 from what other teams did the past four years:<\/p>\n

\u25aa Boston: There\u2019s no lesson to be learned from landing generational talents high in the lottery (Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown). And Boston failed to make it out of the first round, so we\u2019re not going to hold up the Celtics as roster savants.<\/p>\n

But the Celtics have done a somewhat better job during the past five years of finding a combination of shooters \u2014 Sam Hauser (undrafted) and Payton Pritchard (late first round) and second-round bigs (Neemias Queta and Luka Garza).<\/p>\n

From Duncan Robinson to Max Strus to Gabe Vincent to second-rounder Pelle Larsson, few teams have been as effective finding diamonds in the rough as the Heat. Larsson was a second-round revelation, and the Heat\u2019s developmental program remains a model.<\/p>\n

But with Nikola Jovic at something of a crossroads, the Celtics have found more late first\/early second\/undrafted rotation players during the past couple of years, and the Heat undrafted shooter pipeline seemingly has run dry since Robinson.<\/p>\n

Miami continues to find good players in the draft; there\u2019s something impressive about never drafting a total bust. Now it\u2019s time to find another undrafted Robinson and an undrafted big who\u2019s good enough to crack a rotation.<\/p>\n

\u25aa Indiana and Toronto: We understand the Heat doesn\u2019t like trading a good player for another good player unless it believes the move clearly improves the team.<\/p>\n

But sometimes, simply shuffling the pieces can help, in our view. In dealing Pascal Siakam in January 2024 and acquiring Brandon Ingram 13 months later, Toronto didn\u2019t appreciably increase its talent. And in trading OG Anonoby for RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, the Raptors didn\u2019t appreciably increase their talent, and they kept losing for a while.<\/p>\n

But those three deals, combined with Scottie Barnes\u2019 continued development, created a fresh and better mix and sparked a franchise turnaround, from 30 wins last season to 46 this season. They didn\u2019t get out of the first round of the playoffs. But the fresh mix seemed to help.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s Indiana. In 2022, the Pacers traded a player who had been a two-time All Star still in his prime (Domantas Sabonis) for a point guard (Tyrese Haliburton) who had never been an All Star.<\/p>\n

Then they dealt Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora, and three first-round draft picks for Siakam. Those deals and other smart moves – including signing T.J. McConnell in 2019 \u2014 spearheaded last spring\u2019s Finals run.<\/p>\n

The Heat doesn\u2019t believe that changing for change spark \u2014 or making what could be considered a lateral talent move \u2014 is the answer. It doesn\u2019t believe in the notion of a roster growing stale. But sometimes a roster shakeup can spark a franchise.<\/p>\n

\u25aa New York: This centers on the lightning rod \u201casset collection\u201d issue, one that causes the Heat to bristle at times because Miami has done a good job of assembling several good young tradable players.<\/p>\n

Knicks president Leon Rose hasn\u2019t built a team that has (at least yet) made an NBA Finals, but he smartly collected tradable draft capital with several moves, including dealing the 11th pick in 2022 (Ousmane Dieng) to Oklahoma City for three future-first round picks.<\/p>\n

As it was explained to me, the Heat doesn\u2019t prioritize collecting a bunch of first-round picks (though it got one in the Jimmy Butler trade with Golden State) because it\u2019s trying to win every year. We get it. It\u2019s a noble approach.<\/p>\n

The Heat has positioned itself pretty well with player assets (combined with essentially three tradeable firsts) to make a run at Giannis Antetokounmpo or another star. But if a team with more first-round draft inventory beats out the Heat for Antetokounmpo or another star, then the Heat\u2019s approach with asset collection is a topic that should be internally revisited.<\/p>\n

\u25aa Philadelphia: For the Heat or anyone else, there\u2019s absolutely nothing to be learned from a franchise that botched The Process and remains without a single Eastern Conference finals appearance to show for it.<\/p>\n

The only lesson for Miami? Take the best Kentucky player; it usually works. Miami should have done it and selected Tyrese Maxey over Precious Achiuwa in November 2020, the Heat\u2019s only egregious draft mistake since taking Justise Winslow over Devin Booker in 2015.<\/p>\n

In Miami\u2019s defense, Tyler Herro had emerged in the Disney bubble a month earlier, and Miami needed a power forward. But Maxey could have been the missing piece on those Butler\/Adebayo teams.<\/p>\n

\u25aa Atlanta: Like with the Toronto and Indiana, the lesson here is glowing in neon: Don\u2019t be afraid to consider dealing the guy who had been the face of your franchise (at least until Jalen Johnson blossomed).<\/p>\n

Trae Young was no longer Atlanta\u2019s best player when he was dispatched to Washington \u2014 Johnson had assumed that distinction \u2014 but Atlanta\u2019s willingness to deal him for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert paid off for two months until the Hawks embarrassed themselves during the final three games of the Knicks playoff series.<\/p>\n

The Hawks were 17-21 on the day they made the trade (Jan. 7); they went 29-15 after that.<\/p>\n

\u25aa Atlanta and Toronto and Orlando. This can be summed in one word: Length! And adequate positional size.<\/p>\n

As Anthony Chiang and I explained here,<\/a> the Heat needs players who are longer and in some cases, simply taller or bulkier. Pat Riley admitted as much. It needs to be an offseason priority, and we sense it will be.<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo update<\/p>\n

The Heat could get clarity on whether it\u2019s getting Antetokounmpo by the start of the NBA Draft on June 23. Bucks co-owner Jimmy Haslam suggested the Bucks would like to make a decision by that time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think before the draft is a natural time,\u201d Haslam said. \u201cBecause if Giannis does play somewhere else, we\u2019ve got to have a lot of assets. We will do what\u2019s best for Giannis and what\u2019s best for the organization. We don\u2019t know whether Giannis will stay with us or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here was my recent piece<\/a> on the factors working for and against the Heat in its continued pursuit of the two-time MVP. The trade landscape could change somewhat based on the results of Sunday\u2019s 3 p.m. NBA draft lottery, when the Heat \u2014 slotted 13th \u2014 has a 4.8% chance to land a top four pick.<\/p>\n

A final thought<\/p>\n

I would make one other point on the Heat\u2019s approach, which remains focused (not entirely, but mostly) on finding a top-10 NBA player to pair with Adebayo and the team\u2019s young players.<\/p>\n

The Heat\u2019s decision to try to achieve that, instead of simply shuffling the decks with lateral moves, or tanking, can be appreciated. It\u2019s a defensible strategy.<\/p>\n

But like any possible team-building strategy that the Heat or any team could pick, it comes with a risk. And no guarantees.<\/p>\n

What if the star search doesn\u2019t materialize? Would the Heat go yet another season with this nucleus?<\/p>\n

Waiting on a star \u2014 just like tanking \u2014 comes with no assurance of a payoff, and no end date.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why there\u2019s one part of the Heat\u2019s plan that I would tweak:<\/p>\n

I understand keeping Adebayo and continuing efforts to land a star. But isn\u2019t there a point at which the Heat must give up and say \u2018we\u2019ve tried for years and we must pivot to dealing Adebayo for a bunch of first-round picks before he exits his prime and loses his value?\u2019<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no shame in that, but it seems that point does not exist for the Heat in any world, considering how Pat Riley said Adebayo will not be traded. But I\u2019m not sure why the Heat would want to rule out that option as a last resort.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s reasonable to give the star search the rest of this offseason, or through next year\u2019s trade deadline, or even into the summer of 2027 (when Miami should have ample cap space).<\/p>\n

But if the whale hasn\u2019t been harpooned by next summer, at the very latest, the Heat should pivot and parlay Adebayo into assets \u2014 unless it somehow finds a superstar in next month\u2019s draft or misses the playoffs next year and finds a star in the lottery in 13 months. (The 2027 Heat first-round pick due Charlotte is top-14 protected in 2027 and would convey in 2028 if it\u2019s not sent to the Hornets in 2027.)<\/p>\n

No, the Heat shouldn\u2019t be looking to deal Adebayo before trying another year to find a genuine, All-NBA leading man. But there needs to be an end date to all of this, too.<\/p>\n

Preseason home games announced<\/p>\n

The Heat announced Thursday that it will play three preseason home games: Oct. 8 against New Orleans, Oct. 10 vs. Minnesota and Oct. 14 vs. the Nets. Tickets are on sale at heat.com.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published May 7, 2026 at 2:00 PM.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Barry Jackson<\/a><\/p>\n

Miami Herald<\/p>\n

Barry Jackson has written for the Miami Herald since 1986 and has written the Florida Sports Buzz column since 2002.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was April 10, 2022 \u2014 the final day of the NBA\u2019s regular season \u2014 that the Heat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-262440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}