It's understandable that the Miami Heat are an easy target, but there's no question the harsh criticism of the organization has gotten pretty out of hand over the last couple of days. At this point, it should truly piss off the fan base, even if there is some truth in it.
Sure, the Heat missed out on another star. Sure, their reported final offer for Kevin Durant was a bit embarrassing. Sure, there is some natural frustration surrounding the fan base. But it's not like the sky is completely falling for the Heat. In fact, in the matter of a year, Miami will be in a great position to add a star player or two with complete financial flexibility and a clean slate of future draft picks to trade.
With the backlash that the Heat have received since it was revealed they weren't willing to go all-in for KD, you'd figure that Miami had made a franchise-killing mistake. When in all actuality, they may have made the decision that is probably best for their franchise's future.
After all, KD is going to be 37 years old and has not had the best injury history over the last few years of his career. Had the Heat traded what was required for KD (all of their promising young players or multiple draft assets), the narrative would've been that Miami made a foolish move for a superstar past his prime, one that isn't even going to make them a contender.
In many ways, the Heat, at least from a public relations situation, were in a lose-lose scenario with KD. Being a franchise that NBA fans and commentators love to hate, there's never any time wasted in criticizing the Heat, no matter what they end up doing. But even for a fan base that understands this, it's still incredibly frustrating to see play out time and time again.
The Heat have taken control back of their future
If there's any hope that the fan base could cling to right now, it's the fact that the Heat has effectively taken back control of their future. If Miami plays its cards right the rest of this offseason, it's going to emerge with a ton of financial flexibility next summer. They'll also only owe one first-round draft pick (2027) because of a previous trade. That means the Heat will have plenty of draft capital to offer via trade if needed.
Many believed that the Heat were going to make big changes this summer, and rightfully so. After the year the Heat had, change is probably needed. But with the way their cap situation currently stands, the big moves always made more sense for 2026 than 2025.
That doesn't mean the Heat can't still make a big move this offseason; they'll certainly try. But it might make much more sense for Miami to just wait until 2026 when it'll be so much easier to make a splash.
It may be trendy to poke fun at the Heat now, but this low moment for the franchise won't last long. If the Heat's history is any indication, it never does.