As the start of the 2026-27 NBA seaosn quickly approaches, even one of the Miami Heat's biggest haters can't help but admit that after the Giannis Antetokounmpo addition this summer that they're contenders in the Eastern Conference.
Kevin O'Connor, on a recent episode of his podcast, couldn't help but admit as much while diving into a Heat breakdown. Sure, he may have been pressured by the presence of rising Heat writer Brady Hawk, but he's never made a truer admission than this one.
“After acquiring Giannis Antetokounmpo — Bobby Portis coming in that deal, signing Klay Thompson, Nick Richards, Tim Hardaway Jr — this team is deeper and stronger. They’re no doubt contenders in the Eastern Conference.”
The Heat are contenders. That's the bottom line.
Sure, in a way, that assessment of KOC is a bit hyperbolic. But for someone who has spent the majority of his summer nitpicking what the Heat have or haven't been able to do around Giannis, this is quite the development.
The fact that the Heat are getting more traction as a contender will only help their stock heading into the start of the year. Make no mistake; the Heat are going to continue to preach that no one believes in them, even after the addition of Giannis this summer, but there seem to be more and more people coming around to the idea that they could make some noise in the East this season.
They'll certainly have to prove it, and that doesn't necessarily mean there still aren't questions they need to answer, but it does say that the Heat have come a long way from where they were just a few months ago.
Before the start of the offseason, the Heat were considered one of the bigger afterthoughts in the league. They may have had bright hopes for the summer, but there was no guarantee they were going to be able to follow through on their big goals.
After all, the Heat have swung and missed on the star pursuit time and time again before. However, they hit this time around. But it wasn't just the move for Giannis that changed everything for the Heat. It was just the beginning of what would be a complete overhaul of the roster.
And because of the complete work that the front office was able to pull off this offseason, they're now starting to come around as a legit contender. The fact that even one of the team's biggest critics is now admitting it says all we need to know about how much things have completely changed for the Heat.
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