Most entered the NBA offseason believing the Miami Heat needed to make a star-sized splash or blow up the team entirely to chart a promising course forward. Well, they ended up doing neither of those things—and proved just about everybody wrong in the process.
In the absence of landing a marquee player, the Heat have done the next best thing: keep their big-picture options open, without torpedoing next season's on-court product.
Don't just take our word for it, either. ESPN's Kevin Pelton gave Miami a B+ grade for its offseason activity. Here is what he wrote while highlighting their creation and use of flexibility:
"It was an opportunistic offseason for the Heat, who took advantage of the money saved by swapping Duncan Robinson for Simone Fontecchio to convert players on the fringes of their rotation into Norman Powell, who scored 21.8 points per game for the Clippers last season. Powell helps replace some of the scoring lost with Jimmy Butler's February departure and keeps Miami's books clear—or now —as the team eyes 2027 cap space."
This says nothing of Miami's ability to retain Davion Mitchell on a relatively team-friendly deal, or its decision to use the No. 20 overall pick on Kasparas Jakucionis—who had a rough start to summer league and never quite got past turnover issues, but who flashed plenty of on-ball creation and shot-making abilities.
The Heat could actually have cap space before 2027
As Pelton notes, Miami is currently set up to have tons of cap space in 2027, at which point Mitchell, Tyler Herro, and Andrew Wiggins could all be coming off the books. Depending on how the Heat feel about Jaime Jaquez Jr., who is slated for restricted free agency at that time, conservative estimates have them chiseling out over $90 million in cap space that summer.
Still, Miami may not have to wait until 2027 to enjoy standout spending power. Right now, it projects to have almost $13 million in space next summer. That’s negligible money, knowing the non-taxpayer mid-level exception will come in at over $15 million. But Wiggins holds a $30.2 million player option heading into his age-31 season. If he declines that, the Heat could wind up with over $40 million in room.
Granted, chances are other teams will not be lining up to pay Wiggins over $30 million per year. But he could decline his option in hopes of signing a longer deal that guarantees him more money over multiple years.
Failing that, as someone who often embodies the three-and-D archetype, Miami may have no trouble flipping him this season for a contract that comes off the books next summer. Make no mistake, it doesn’t have to do this. But it’s another option at the Heat’s disposal following an offseason that saw them deftly juggle the pursuit of immediate relevance in the Eastern Conference with the prospect of conserving flexibility for the big-time acquisition we all know they’ll eventually need.