After months of speculation and even a few encouraging preseason games, the Miami Heat are finally slated to get the Giannis Antetokounmpo era started. The Heat open the regular season portion of their schedule against the Minnesota Timberwolves on October 21 at home.
But while there is a ton of excitement surrounding Giannis' regular-season debut, and understandably so, there are still a few uncertainties about the Heat heading into the season opener. At the top of the Heat's biggest questions, though, is Klay Thompson.
In a vacuum, there probably isn't much concern about Thompson within the organization and in the locker room. However, especially for the fans, it's almost impossible to know what to expect from Thompson this season.
Klay Thompson had an underwhelming preseason showing
Part of that is the narrative that followed Thompson after an underwhelming season with the Dallas Mavericks last year, in which he had a career low in field-goal and 3-point percentages. Another part of that is the underwhelming showing he had during the preseason.
Through four preseason games, Thompson averaged just four points per game on 3-for-20 shooting from 3-point range and 27 percent shooting from the field overall. Thompson did put together some good defensive sequences and clearly looked like a player who was buying into the Heat's system and this fresh start, but the shooting was, at the very least, somewhat concerning.
It's hard to be so overreactive to a few preseason games, especially with the resume that Thompson has put together over the course of his NBA career, but you can't blame Heat fans for being at least a little concerned.
Especially when you add in the fact that Thompson is supposed to, in a way, solve a lot of the Heat's shooting issues. I suppose as long as Thompson is on the floor, whether he's hitting 3s or not, there's still a reason to believe that he'll help the team's spacing, but if Miami is going to be successful this season, they're going to need consistent shooting from Thompson.
With his established success and championship pedigree, Thompson has earned the right for Heat fans to be a little more patient with him, at least until we see how he looks in the regular season. But especially with all the shooting questions that surrounded the Heat all summer long, it's become pretty obvious that Thompson's shooting is a big question mark heading into the start of the regular season.
Miami still has some questions about their playmaking, guard depth, and overall fit of their two superstars, but there's no question that all eyes will be on Thompson on opening night.
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