The Miami Heat's first outing of the 2025-26 NBA season featured some unpleasant surprises, predictable problems, and not enough encouragement. Alarm sirens shouldn't blare too loudly following a four-point road loss to a talented Orlando Magic team, but concerns about the club's rebounding woes were clearly warranted, and a quiet night from Bam Adebayo highlighted the Heat's lack of star power.
Miami doesn't have a simple solution for those issues—though more trust in Kel'el Ware could help on the glass—but it could chase an inexpensive answer to a different problem. The Heat's three-point shooting looks less than spectacular (12-of-35, 34.3 percent), which should motivate this front office to make a push for Los Angeles Lakers' 2024 first-round pick Dalton Knecht.
While he's hardly lit the hoops world on fire so far, Miami's developmental magic might simultaneously bring out his best and scratch a nagging itch while doing so.
Dalton Knecht could be a cheap need-filler for this club.
Knecht, last summer's 17th overall pick, had some ups and downs as a rookie, but his season felt generally positive. He arrived as a scoring and shooting specialist, and he delivered on both fronts by averaging 9.1 points in 19.2 minutes while shooting 46.1 percent from the field and 37.6 percent from range.
Those numbers surely aren't jumping off of your screen right now, but these per-36-minutes averages might: 17 points and 3.1 three-pointers, per Basketball-Reference.com. While this isn't a perfect apples-to-apples comparison, it still feels worth noting only 19 players actually averaged 17 points and three triples last season.
You might think, then, that the Lakers would be making it a point to find floor time and shots for Knecht, since they're another team that could stand to up its three-point volume. And yet, they kept him tethered to the bench on opening night, sitting him for the duration of a 10-point loss to the Golden State Warriors during which they lost the three-point battle by a whopping 27 points.
Skeptics might point to that as a reason for Miami—or any other team for that matter—to fully ignore Knecht. Opportunists, on the other hand, might think this situation screams bargain potential.
Just because a player fails to find his footing in one situation—and, again, that wasn't really the case with Knecht's rookie season; he was fine—that hardly means they're doomed to fail everywhere. Maybe the Lakers' offensive system is a bad fit. Perhaps their developmental program is doing him no favors.
It's hard to say exactly what is going on, but it's just as easy to wonder whether a different coaching staff could get Knecht on track. And with all due respect to JJ Redick, Knecht would get a massive boost on the coaching front by being sent to Erik Spoelstra's program.
The price would have to be right for Miami to make a move, but L.A. can't possibly be expecting much after sitting a healthy Knecht for the opener. If the Heat can get him for very little, they might sneakily walk away with a significant upgrade.