Before the recent trade theft of Norman Powell, a sleepy 2025 NBA offseason threatened to leave the Miami Heat behind in the NBA's Eastern Conference. And considering they weren't coming from the strongest place to begin with—they finished 10th in this past season's standings before being swept out of the first round—it was all too easy for this fanbase to panic.
Yet, the Heat were never really at risk of bottoming out. As long as Erik Spoelstra, the league's best coach, is pacing the sidelines, that possibility is firmly off the table.
And since the Powell trade suddenly has this looking like a sneaky-good summer, Miami can dream a lot bigger than not being terrible. Between the roster's potential for internal improvement, the external upgrades, and Spoelstra's coaching genius, there are reasons to believe this group can force its way back into the (wide-open) East's top tier.
Erik Spoelstra has won big with less talent.
Between the 2019-20 and 2022-23 seasons, the Heat booked three trips to the Eastern Conference finals and twice reached the NBA's championship round. They were about as successful as a non-champion could be, despite never really having a great club over this stretch.
Jimmy Butler was their only All-NBA honoree, and he never made first team (third team twice, second team once). Butler and Bam Adebayo both booked a pair of All-Star trips, but they were only selected in the same season once (2019-20) and were never selected as starters.
Collectively, the club only secured one top-four finish in the conference standings (first in 2021-22). Otherwise, they were fifth, sixth, or seventh. Overall, their 181 wins in this stretch ranked eighth in the NBA and fourth in the conference, per StatHead Basketball.
That group was—much like this roster is—hardly overloaded with talent. And while some might point out that Butler's ability to summon superstar strength come playoff time gave those Heat teams a different dimension than this one possesses, this roster might look better on paper.
Tyler Herro has leveled up. Adebayo remains a defensive ace. Powell had an All-Star case this past season. Andrew Wiggins was an All-Star and a championship sidekick a couple of campaigns back. Hopes are perpetually climbing for sophomore center Kel'el Ware, a 2024-25 All-Rookie second-teamer despite starting the season out of the rotation and only cracking the starting lineup in the second half.
Move over to the bench mob, and you'll find potential draft heist Kasparas Jakučionis, late-season-surger Davion Mitchell, and a slew of intriguing frontcourt options like Pelle Larsson, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Haywood Highsmith, Nikola Jović, and Simone Fontecchio.
Is that the most loaded roster you'll find in the NBA? Not by a long shot. But with Spoelstra at the helm, could it be good enough to compete in a conference that was just conquered by the similarly superstar-less Pacers? Absolutely.
Spoelstra routinely makes the most of what he has. He doesn't force players to fit his system; he forms his system around what his players can do. And he'll have plenty of optionality with this group, especially if these young players can thrive under what's been a fruitful developmental program.
More than any other coach in the NBA, Spoelstra is a difference-maker. He needs players to win, obviously, but this front office has provided something he can work with. Based on what he's done in the past when that's been the case, the Heat should be holding onto realistic hopes of competing for a top seed in the East and becoming one heck of a headache-matchup come playoff time.