It's no secret that the Miami Heat have been slighted for some prestigious awards.
It is baffling that Coach Erik Spoelstra, who is viewed as one of the most well-respected head coaches in history, hasn’t won Coach of the Year. It was always fair to assume that Miami would leave the national media spotlight following LeBron James’ departure in 2014.
However, a Jimmy Butler arrival put the Heat back on the map and Spoelstra still has yet to earn that award, even after leading several lower-seed Heat squads to deep playoff runs when everybody else had counted them out. When Miami earned the Eastern Conference’s top seed in 2022, it still wasn’t enough for Spoelstra to be celebrated.
Tyler Herro is the most recent player to earn an NBA award, securing the league's Sixth Man of the Year that same 2022 season. Bam Adebayo has also earned recent recognition, becoming a three-time All-Star and landing on the NBA’s All-Defensive first team following the 2023-24 campaign. Butler hasn’t been an All-Star himself in two consecutive years, even with all his playoff heroics.
Earning awards without James or even Dwyane Wade in the picture has been hard to come by for the Heat. But which type of recognition from past and present players went under the radar?
5. Jimmy Butler Steals Leader
In what turned out to be a bleak 2020-21 season following a shortened offseason with their NBA Finals run, Butler earned a league honor that same year. He was the NBA’s steals leader by averaging 2.1 per game. It isn’t surprising because of Butler’s caliber as a player, but it came in a season that Heat fans wouldn’t mind forgetting about.
Miami lost a key contributor in Jae Crowder going into 2021, and they suffered some injury-riddled seasons from other core guys. It was the beginning of Goran Dragic’s decline, and the injury bug started to attach itself to Herro. Pat Riley tried to salvage the season by trading for Victor Oladipo, but he underwent a season-ending knee injury only a few games into his new Heat tenure.