5 Painful Heat regrets that set back the Jimmy Butler era

4. Drafting Precious Achiuwa over Tyrese Maxey

In the 2020 NBA draft, the Heat suffered a painful draft mistake of taking Precious Achiuwa one pick ahead of Philadelphia 76ers rising star Tyrese Maxey. Achiuwa went 20th overall, as Maxey was chosen 21st. In the moment, it was clear that the Heat wanted to pair Adebayo with another big man in the frontcourt and were happy with Tyler Herro coming off an impressive playoff run in the Bubble.

Ultimately that vision never panned out. Achiuwa was raw and undersized as a big. He ended up getting traded for Lowry, but had the Heat brought in Maxey instead, it could’ve changed the entire outlook of this Butler era. In Achiuwa’s lone Heat season, he didn’t bring much of an impact. 

The 6-foot-8 center averaged just 5.0 points and 3.4 rebounds in 12.1 minutes during his rookie year in Miami. Maxey on the other hand, just signed a lucrative max extension and is coming off earning the league’s Most Improved Player of the Year award. He averaged 25.9 points this past season, as Achiuwa averaged 7.6 points playing for the Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks.