The Miami Heat have garnered steady criticism for acquiring Giannis Antetokounmpo and not yet surrounding him with an ideal cast of shooters. There's still time for Miami to improve its rotation, but the decision has been made in NBA circles that Antetokounmpo won't have the space he needs to play his preferred style.
Though the concern is rational, the Heat are far better suited to space the floor and buried three-point field goals than critics are letting on.
The questions about Miami's three-point shooting are unfortunately fair. They traded three of their best shooters for Antetokounmpo in Tyler Herro, Kasparas Jakucionis, and Kel'el Ware, and lost marksman Norman Powell to free agency.
The conversations about the Heat's shooting seem to imply that they're devoid of options, however, and that simply isn't true.
The Heat have four players on the roster who shot 39.5 percent or better from beyond the arc in 2025-26. They also have several other players who have shown a history of efficiency, albeit with ebbs and flows in their performances.
Miami would still be wise to utilize the exceptions it has in free agency and on the trade market to improve their shooting, but the notion that they're lost until then is greatly exaggerated.
Heat need more shooters, but they already have plenty of options
In 2025-26, Andrew Wiggins averaged 2.0 three-point field goals made on 41.4 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Simone Fontecchio buried 1.8 on 37.5 percent shooting from distance, while Davion Mitchell checked in at 1.3 and 39.5 percent.
New addition Tim Hardaway Jr. averaged 2.8 three-point field goals made on 40.7 percent shooting. Second-round draft pick Ryan Conwell excelled at 37.6 percent between four college seasons.
The X-Factor here is Bam Adebayo. He shot 35.7 percent on 2.8 three-point field goal attempts in 2025-26, but fell to 31.7 when his volume nearly doubled to 5.5 per contest. If he can find a middle ground, then spacing could become a strength after all.
All of this adds up to Miami at least having a realistic path to being able to shoot with enough volume to hold opposing defenders accountable and thus create space for Antetokounmpo to drive.
There's still a need to add more proven shooters to the rotation and ideally develop talent within the proverbial pipeline. Potential high-volume players such as Nikola Jovic and Pelle Larsson, for instance, would instantly alleviate concerns if they can reach even reasonably efficient marks.
The Heat may not be the best three-point shooting team in the NBA, but with a fairly long list of proven shooters, spacing shouldn't be the weakness many expect it to be.
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