Miami Heat Rumors: Did Pat Riley Handcuff Himself Over Giannis Antetokounmpo?

Did Miami Heat head man, Pat Riley, paint himself in a corner over Giannis Antetokounmpo?

The Miami Heat are in a little situation right now. With Pat Riley telling us all that he was whale hunting over the last few seasons or so, we all saw and believed that this build-up was leading to the ultimate culmination that would involve Giannis Antetokounmpo joining the Miami Heat.

It’s actually reasonable to believe that Pat Riley and those associated with the Miami Heat had a reasonable belief in this possibility as well, although there could be hangups. Well, there was one and it came in the form of the biggest deal ever signed by a player.

That’s what Giannis received in the extension that he signed with the Milwaukee Bucks to remain there for the next five years. With that in mind, it led to this thought.

What are the Miami Heat planning to do? With their whale off the board, at least the one you thought that they were chasing, did that totally mess up their plans?

The Miami Heat were supposedly chasing Giannis, but he isn’t coming to Miami, as we all now know. Did Pat Riley wrongly go for broke there?

With the promise that Jimmy Butler came here to compete for titles and that he would receive help in the form of another star player, has Pat Riley painted himself in a corner by not having a real opportunity to land Giannis? There are other names out there, but none of them are or will be Giannis and again, that’s what they were hoping for, presumably.

This has totally thrown things off then, correct? Pat Riley is in a corner he can’t escape, right?

Wrong. It’s very wrong.

While I do believe that Giannis was the ultimate plan, goal, and hope, he isn’t available anymore. I trust Pat Riley and the crew to be able to pick up the pieces, proverbially, to come up with the next best plan that can also accomplish the mission of titles.

While I don’t necessarily want this, the James Harden option is still out there, in example. DeMar DeRozan has looked rather good in San Antonio to start the year and does expire after this season, so in another example, he too is an option you could say.

There are tons of options out there as far as guys you can look to start the process of creating something solid for the next 2-3 years of Jimmy Butler’s certain time in Miami, bring in with the hopes of selling them on the next 2-3 years of Jimmy Butler, or lastly and hopefully not the outcome, but help you try to shoot for it again this season while you bide your time and refocus for a two-year plan starting next year.

Again, there are options out there and we all know that I trust no one more than Pat Riley to put all the necessary pieces in place to bounce back. I didn’t necessarily want Giannis here, but I wasn’t against it, if that makes sense.

He won’t be coming and the Miami Heat must now move on. I’m curious to see exactly what that looks like but either way, it isn’t a lost cause.

Pat Riley will be just fine in figuring it out and executing it.