For years, people have been on Pat Riley’s case about his inability to cross the goal line when it came to acquiring stars. Well, the 81-year-old finally landed a big fish, making the biggest splash of the offseason.
Riley sent Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, the No. 13 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, a 2030 pick swap, and a 2033 second-round pick to the Bucks for Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis. That move brought a top-five player in the world to South Beach and cracked open a championship window that had been slammed shut.
We’ll now see what a frontcourt of Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo looks like, surrounded by competent role players and coached by Erik Spoelstra, one of the best tacticians in the history of the sport.
This group has question marks heading into 2026-27 — luckily, we have some “Burning Questions” for that — but Miami simply couldn’t keep doing things the way it had. The Jimmy Butler Era produced two trips to the NBA Finals, but the late stages of his tenure meant competing in the Play-In Tournament and hoping for an early-round playoff upset. Then, once Butler was traded, the Heat were just hoping to make the Play-In Tournament. The cycle of being caught in the middle was exhausting and unproductive.
Now, we’ll see what the Heat can do with a legitimate franchise player leading the way. Antetokounmpo didn’t play much last season, but he still averaged 27.6 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per game, and we know he can lock up on defense when he’s motivated.
Miami has a puncher’s chance now. We’ll see what Spoelstra can cook up in a suddenly loaded Eastern Conference. At the very least, I see this being a team that does very well in the regular season, making the Over on 45.5 wins an enticing play.
BURNING QUESTIONS
How will Giannis and Bam coexist offensively?
When Miami acquired Antetokounmpo, people instantly wondered whether he and Adebayo could play well together. Both do most of their work inside the arc, meaning there could be a lack of spacing in the starting five. However, throughout Spoelstra’s career, the brilliant head coach has done an awesome job of making pieces fit together.
Adebayo also made a career-high 1.7 threes per game last year, becoming a true shooting threat for the first time in his career. Sure, he needs to improve on his 31.7% clip. But he deserves the benefit of the doubt after making so much progress last season. If he can continue evolving into a serviceable floor spacer, that will drastically raise this team’s ceiling.
These are also two unique players. Both guys can handle the basketball and see the floor extremely well. We could see some interesting stuff in which these two are screening for one another.
Do the Heat have enough backcourt juice?
The main focus with Miami is how the Antetokounmpo-Adebayo duo will look offensively and whether the team has enough shooting. The latter was seemingly addressed with the Heat signing Klay Thompson and Tim Hardaway Jr. — and drafting Ryan Conwell.
Miami now has a bunch of shooting specialists, with Simone Fontecchio another one. The Heat also have Pelle Larsson — recently signed to a new deal — and Davion Mitchell to knock down shots. Larsson isn’t a reliable stand-still shooter yet, but he’s trending that way. Meanwhile, Mitchell has become deadly on catch-and-shoot attempts. And while he’s not a guard, don’t forget Portis was in the Antetokounmpo trade. He’s one of the best three-point shooters in basketball.
Now that we’ve addressed two main concerns, let’s touch on another. As people poked holes in this roster construction, Riley himself brought up playmaking as a potential weak spot. I know I shouldn’t question the basketball intelligence of someone who has won nine NBA titles as a player, assistant coach, head coach, and executive. But Miami had a top-10 assist rate (66.3%) last season, Mitchell averaged 6.5 assists per game, and Antetokounmpo’s playmaking should make up for the offseason departures.
I say all of that to say I have no major issues with this backcourt.
Should Miami actually be taken seriously as a title contender?
The Heat might have question marks offensively, but they’re going to be a top-five team in the league defensively. They have four plus-level defenders in their starting five in Mitchell, Andrew Wiggins, Antetokounmpo, and Adebayo, plus a bunch of rotation players that work hard on that end.
A feisty, switchable defense gives you a chance against anyone in the postseason, and having Antetokounmpo to dump the ball to gives the Heat a reasonably high floor on offense. Miami will need to be taken very seriously in every postseason series.
As of right now, the Heat should be considered a fringe contender because of how tough it’ll be to overcome them in a best-of-seven series. But to comfortably consider them a top-tier team, Spoelstra will need to build this into a top-12 offense. I wouldn’t rule it out, but the best version of Miami could be an offseason away.
WIN TOTAL BEST BET: Over 45.5
