The Miami Heat once again find themselves in a position that they've become far too familiar with - missing out on a star player via trade, leaving them in a desperate position to scramble for a face-saving plan B. After pursuing Kevin Durant via trade, the Heat found themselves as a bridesmaid and not the bride as the Phoenix Suns sent their star forward to the Houston Rockets.
Miami failed to meet the Suns' asking price, and instead of dragging this along, Phoenix agreed to a package that included Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, and the 10th overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. Perhaps most importantly, it's more disappointment for the Heat.
Even though I wouldn't say that it's panic time for the Heat just yet, it's a pretty frustrating place to find themselves this early in the offseason. It's not just the simple fact of missing on Kevin Durant. It's the idea that the Heat missed out on closing the deal on a star trade again.
It's a trend that plagued the Heat during the Jimmy Butler era and one that seems to be haunting the franchise once again. At this point, it's hard to be positive even for the most optimistic of Heat fans.
The Heat are back to square one
All the noise aside, missing out on KD means one very big thing - that the Heat are back to square one. Miami entered this summer with two realistic routes. They could either find a star player who could help the team reenter the champioship picture in the Eastern Conference or embrace a more traditional path toward rebuilding.
With Pat Riley calling the shots, or at least having a very strong influence on the direction of the franchise, it's clear which path the Heat was going to explore first. After striking out on KD, the Heat will have to quickly pivot toward another star target. But if one doesn't materialize before the end of the summer, it will leave the franchise with some huge big-picture questions.
Either way, the Heat's front office has to quickly recover from this absolutely gutting start to the offseason. With how the offseason currently stands, it's hard to envision what the next practical move for the Heat is. After preaching change, something has to give this offseason for Miami.
However, after missing out on KD, it's going to be increasingly more difficult for this front office to accomplish that task. I'm sure there are some plan B's in place for the Heat, but there's no question that missing out on the big name again to begin the offseason certainly stings.