Miami Heat Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Heat Notes: Jaquez, Durant, Young Roster, Herro

June 11th, 2025 at 1:11pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Following a disappointing second season in the NBA, Heat guard Jaime Jaquez is already focused on turning things around, he told Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald.

“When the season ended, I took some time away just to decompress, gather my thoughts, really get to a place of peace,” Jaquez said. “Now I’m full steam ahead. I’ve been in the gym every single day, working on my mind, body, spirit, my jump shot, defense. Really just getting my body and mind in tune to get ready for this next season.”

Jaquez averaged fewer points (8.6 per game compared to 11.9 as a rookie) while shooting a worse percentage from the field (46.1% this season compared to 48.9%) and three-point range (31.1% compared to 32.2%). Jaquez’s offseason goals include developing a better mental approach.

“I’m working with a mental coach to try to just help myself become present in the moments, try to tune out all the noise and just really focus on what’s important,” he said.

Here’s more on the Heat:

Miami does indeed have interest in trading for Suns forward Kevin Durant, as ESPN’s Shams Charania stated on Wednesday, but only at the “right price,” Chiang and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald report. Miami has tried to trade for the 15-time All-Star in the past. The Heat have two assets that could grease the skids for a trade — a skilled young center in Kel’el Ware, the type of big man Phoenix reportedly covets, and Duncan Robinson’s partially guaranteed contract. It’s unknown whether the Heat would offer Ware in a Durant trade. The Herald duo maps out possible trade scenarios that would work financially for both sides.
Do the Heat have too many young players? That’s an unusual dilemma for a team that has been criticized in the past for relying on too many veterans, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel notes. The Heat hold the No. 20 pick draft and they’re considering all options. “It’s a good question, certainly having a lot of young players,” said Adam Simon, the Heat’s vice president, basketball operations and assistant GM. “We’ve been here on the other side, where we were told we were told we didn’t have enough young players.”
A potential Tyler Herro extension presents complications for the front office, Chiang writes in his latest mailbag. Beginning on Oct. 1, Herro is eligible to add a three-year, $149.7MM extension to the two seasons he has left on his current deal. If an agreement is not reached on an extension by Oct. 20, Herro would be eligible to sign a four-year, $206.9MM extension next offseason. With Bam Adebayo already signed to a max extension, giving Herro that type of long-term security would hamstring the club’s efforts to fit in another high-salary star player.
In case you missed it, Luke Adams offered his comprehensive offseason preview of the Heat to our Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers last week.

Suns, Durant Sifting Through Trade Scenarios

June 11th, 2025 at 12:03pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Suns and Kevin Durant‘s business partner, Boardroom CEO Rich Kleiman, have met multiple times over the past week and are sifting through trade scenarios, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports.

The Rockets, Spurs, Heat, Timberwolves and Knicks are among the teams that have expressed interest in trading for the 15-time All-Star forward.

Several other suitors beyond those five teams have made inquiries on Durant in the past seven-to-10 days, Charania notes. Talks are expected to escalate before the draft, which takes place in two weeks.

After a colossally disappointing season in which the Suns didn’t make the playoffs, there has been an expectation that Durant will be moved. The Suns engaged in trade talks involving Durant prior to February’s deadline and nearly traded him to Golden State, which seemingly caught Durant by surprise and was something he didn’t want at the time.

Matching salaries could be a challenge for some teams and draft capital could be key for the Suns, who desperately need to replenish their draft stock. The latter issue makes it preferable for a Durant deal to be in place over the next two weeks.

Durant has a $54.7MM salary next season, the last year of his current contract, and his desire for an extension could prove to be a critical factor in where he lands, says Charania.

Once he is traded, Durant will be eligible to sign a two-year contract extension on July 6 worth as much as $112MM. After a six-month waiting period, he could instead sign a two-year extension worth up to $124MM.

Jaime Jaquez Serves As Media Correspondent

June 9th, 2025 at 11:59am CST by Arthur Hill

Second-year Heat forward Jaime Jaquez got a taste of the NBA Finals on Sunday while working as a media member for the league’s digital and social media outlets under the Player Correspondent Program, per Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. “I’m thinking I want to be here, but not as a correspondent,” Jaquez said during a media event. “That’s what I’m thinking, as a player.”
Former Heat player and executive Shane Battier addressed the end of his playing career and a number of other topics in an appearance on the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast, relays Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Battier, 46, left the team in 2021 to pursue other interests. “My last year (as a player), when I was told without being told that our best chance of winning doesn’t include you Shane,” Battier recalled. “When (coach Erik Spoelstra) started to sit me in the fourth quarter, nothing was worse to me than sitting me in crunch time because that was my identity.”

2025 NBA Offseason Preview: Miami Heat

June 7th, 2025 at 10:16am CST by Luke Adams

Many NBA general managers and team presidents speak in platitudes during their postseason and preseason media sessions, but when Heat president Pat Riley met with the press last spring and fall, he took the opportunity to directly challenge his players to improve their availability and to become better versions of themselves.

Some players responded well to Riley's candor. After being dubbed "fragile" by the longtime Heat president last May, Tyler Herro had a career year in 2024/25, making his first All-Star team and blowing away his previous career highs by appearing in 77 regular season games and averaging 23.9 points per contest.

Riley's remarks proved less inspiring for other key Heat players, however. Jimmy Butler, who was filmed during the 2024 playoffs claiming that the Heat would've beaten the Celtics if he were healthy, reportedly chafed at Riley's recommendation that he "keep (his) mouth shut," and was irked by Miami's unwillingness to give him the maximum-salary extension he sought, due to concerns about his injury history.

While Butler dismissed the idea that his relationship with Riley or the Heat was strained ahead of the season, the situation came to a head by December, with the star forward agitating for a trade out of Miami and earning three separate team-imposed suspensions for "conduct detrimental to the team" and "intentionally withholding services."

With Butler in and out of the lineup and trade speculation swirling around the six-time All-Star for weeks, the Heat actually weathered the storm pretty well. Miami was above .500 (25-24) at the trade deadline, and after sending Butler to Golden State for a package that included Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson, and Davion Mitchell, the team was optimistic about finishing the season strong, having removed a major distraction from the equation.

Instead, it almost seemed as if the Heat's adrenaline wore off and they found themselves suddenly feeling the aftereffects of the drama that had engulfed the club for the better part of the season. Miami lost 17 of its next 21 games, and while the drop down the standings wasn't as precipitous as it could have been if the bottom of the Eastern Conference were a little more competitive, the Heat slid from sixth to 10th, which is where they ultimately finished the season despite reeling off a six-game winning streak in March and April.

The Heat subsequently made history twice in April, first by becoming the first No. 10 seed to make it through the play-in tournament to clinch a playoff spot, then by being on the wrong end of the most lopsided series in NBA postseason history. The playoff berth meant their first-round draft pick would be sent to the Thunder, which was perhaps a better outcome than the alternative -- if the pick had landed in the top 14 and stayed with Miami, the Heat would've owed an unprotected 2026 first-rounder to Oklahoma City.

With their '26 pick in hand, the Heat have more potential paths they could take this offseason and beyond. But tanking has been a rarity during the Riley era, so it's likely the front office will do its best in the coming weeks to figure out a way to turn this club - just two years removed from an NBA Finals appearance - back into a contender as soon as possible.

The Heat's Offseason Plan

Bam Adebayo is viewed as a long-term cornerstone in Miami, having taken over the title of team captain following Udonis Haslem's retirement. Herro, who had long been the subject of trade speculation as the Heat pursued stars like Damian Lillard and Donovan Mitchell in recent years, perhaps solidified his place alongside Adebayo with his breakout 2024/25 performance. But no one else on the roster should be considered entirely safe entering this summer.

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Southeast Notes: Young, Hornets, Magic, K. Johnson

June 6th, 2025 at 12:38pm CST by Luke Adams

A native of Norman, Oklahoma who played his college ball for the Sooners, Trae Young has some affinity for the local NBA team. However, while the Hawks guard will be rooting for the Thunder in the NBA Finals, he tells Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that seeing Oklahoma City make a serious run at a title really just makes him more determined to take his own team to those same heights.

“It’s even more motivating for me,” Young said on Wednesday at a sponsor event. “I want to win a championship bad. But the fact that it’s in my city and I’m just watching it now, if you thought I wanted it bad before, it’s even worse now. … Hopefully we’re here playing the Thunder next year, and I’m not having this (event) here in OKC. So, we have this party there in Atlanta. I love Atlanta.”

The Hawks have missed the playoffs in each of the past two seasons and haven’t won more than 43 games in a season since Young was drafted in 2018, but the star guard remains optimistic about the franchise’s direction.

“We had the No. 1 pick (Zaccharie Risacher) last year that made strides and almost won Rookie of the Year, got second,” Young said. “We have a lot of young, young, really good players. We have a great coach. We have a lot of stuff, and we have a big summer ahead, for sure.”

We have more from around the Southeast:

Dylan Cardwell (Auburn), Steven Crowl (Wisconsin), Chucky Hepburn (Louisville), and Jalon Moore (Oklahoma) visited the Hornets for a pre-draft workout earlier this week, while Obinna Anochili-Killen (Marshall), Eric Dixon (Villanova), Kobe Johnson (UCLA), and Julian Reese (Maryland) auditioned for the team on Thursday, reports Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer (Twitter links). Charlotte controls the fourth, 33rd, and 34th overall picks in this year’s draft. Among those prospects, Dixon is the highest-rated on ESPN’s big board at No. 45.
Keith Smith of Spotrac and Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Substack link) both previewed the Magic‘s offseason this week, discussing Paolo Banchero‘s upcoming rookie scale extension, looking at Orlando’s rising payroll, and considering how the team might use its multiple first-round picks (No. 16 and No. 25) in this year’s draft.
Although he played limited minutes in just 16 NBA games as a rookie in 2024/25, Heat forward Keshad Johnson feels he has “grown mentally” since entering the league, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “I’ve learned a lot about basketball, Xs and Os,” said Johnson, who played well for the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the G League. “Just being in the NBA, at first it started off fast. But it started to slow down as time got going. Just getting comfortable. Skill-wise, I feel like the mental aspect of learning cheat codes and things like that.” The Heat hold a minimum-salary team option on Johnson for the 2025/26 season and must exercise or decline that option by June 29.

Eastern Notes: Giannis, Nets, Raptors, Spoelstra, Pistons, Magic

June 5th, 2025 at 10:16am CST by Luke Adams

Team personnel around the NBA who have spoken recently to Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscription required) are expressing less confidence that Giannis Antetokounmpo will ask the Bucks to trade him this summer.

“He’s not that guy (to cause trouble),” one source told Lewis. “He’s going to complain, but he isn’t going to actually burn it to the ground and be the bad guy to leave.”

As Lewis details, it’s perhaps no coincidence that rumors about the Nets‘ interest in pursuing a second lottery pick have gained some traction lately, since that’s viewed as a more realistic move for Brooklyn than landing Antetokounmpo. Even if the Bucks star does become available, the Nets have fallen behind teams like San Antonio, Houston, and Toronto as betting favorites to land him, Lewis notes.

“Toronto has more than anyone to offer for Giannis,” one league source told The Post. “But I don’t think he’s being moved.”

If Giannis were available, the Raptors could make a strong bid for him by including former Rookie of the Year and All-Star Scottie Barnes in their package. Still, it’s debatable whether such a move would make sense for Toronto, according to Eric Koreen of The Athletic, who notes that paying a significant price (Barnes, plus other players and picks) for Antetokounmpo wouldn’t necessarily put the Raptors in a better position to contend than recent iterations of the Bucks.

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

Since we published our most recent list of the NBA’s longest-tenured head coaches last August, four of the top six names on that list (Gregg Popovich, Michael Malone, Taylor Jenkins, and Tom Thibodeau) have been let go or, in Popovich’s case, stepped down. That leaves Erik Spoelstra of the Heat as the league’s longest-tenured head coach by a significant margin, and he doesn’t take that longevity for granted, as Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald details. “You have to have great ownership and stability from the front office,” Spoelstra said during the season. “… I’m truly grateful for that, because we’ve been able to work through some tough losses and tough seasons and I think we’ve gotten better from that.”
Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (subscription required) considers how the Pistons might be able to leverage certain teams’ cap and apron positions this offseason by pursuing players from those clubs. Sankofa identifies Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Grayson Allen, Isaac Okoro, and Sam Hauser as four wings whom Detroit could target in free agency or trades. Minnesota, Phoenix, and Boston are coming off second-apron seasons, while Cleveland is on track to exceed the second apron in 2025/26.
The Magic unveiled a new logo and three new uniforms earlier this week, per a team press release. Orlando’s updated look can be found here.

Eastern Notes: Scariolo, Heat, Celtics, Ainge, Fontecchio

June 2nd, 2025 at 5:26pm CST by Dana Gauruder

According to a Eurohoops.net report, the Heat have expressed interest in adding Sergio Scariolo to their coaching staff. Scariolo is currently the head coach of Spain’s national team and served as an assistant coach with the Raptors for three seasons from 2018-21. However, the Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang hears from a source close to the organization that Scariolo is not a candidate for a Heat coaching position.

We have more from the Eastern Conference:

The Heat might have to take a step back to move forward, Spotrac contributor Keith Smith writes in his offseason preview. Their cap sheet for next season is messy but they could reach the summer of 2026 with ample cap space, perhaps $30-40MM or even more, unless they make a major trade for a star player this summer. If they don’t make that sort of deal, it might be another down year for the franchise but the Heat will own their own first-round pick without restrictions in next year’s draft along with having salary flexibility.
The departure of Celtics assistant GM Austin Ainge transpired quickly in recent days, and the hiring of a replacement for him is not imminent, Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe reports. Ainge has joined the Jazz‘s front office as their president of basketball operations. “Ownership is awesome and it’s just kind of the next progression of my career,” Ainge said. “Kind of done a lot in Boston and we’ve had a lot of success over the years, and the chance to run my own team is a big part of it. And the Jazz have a lot of potential, man. It’s a lot of work, but a lot of potential.”
Pistons forward Simone Fontecchio didn’t shoot as well from beyond the arc as he had the previous season but he maintained a rotation spot due to other factors, Pistons.com’s Keith Langlois writes. Fontecchio drew praise from coach J.B. Bickerstaff due to his defensive tenacity, versatility, energy, selflessness and basketball IQ. If Fontecchio can regain his three-point form, he’ll be a very valuable rotation piece heading into his walk year, Langlois adds — he has $8.3MM remaining on his contract.

Lakers, Heat Announce Home Portions Of Preseason Schedules

June 2nd, 2025 at 3:58pm CST by Rory Maher

The Lakers put out a press release on Monday announcing the home portion of their 2025/26 preseason schedule, tweets Jovan Buha of The Athletic.

The Lakers’ preseason slate will begin on October 3 vs. Phoenix at Acrisure Arena in the Greater Palm Springs area. On Oct. 12, the Lakers will be on their typical home floor — Crypto.com Arena — against Golden State, followed by a home contest in Las Vegas vs. Dallas on Oct. 15. Marc Stein previously reported (via Twitter) that the Lakers were expected to host the Mavs in Las Vegas.

The home portion of Los Angeles’ preseason schedule will conclude on Oct. 17 in L.A., when the team hosts Sacramento.

The Heat also announced (via Twitter) the dates of their three home preseason games in ’25/26. Miami will host Milwaukee on Oct. 6, San Antonio on Oct. 8, and Memphis on Oct. 17.

Jordan Ott, Johnnie Bryant Finalists For Suns’ Head Coaching Job

June 2nd, 2025 at 11:14am CST by Luke Adams

11:14 am: While Ott is a finalist for the Suns’ head coaching vacancy, Shams Charania of ESPN confirms, it’s Bryant – not Quinn – who joins him in that final group. According to Charania, the two Cavaliers assistants will meet in person with Ishbia, Gregory, and Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein in Michigan.

Bryant, who was hired last offseason as the Cavaliers’ associate head coach, previously worked for the Jazz (2014-20) and Knicks (2020-24) as an assistant.

John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link) reports that the Suns are expected to make their decision by the end of the week.

8:50 am: After reporting over the weekend that the Suns are expected to advance two or three finalists to the last round of their head coaching search to meet with team owner Mat Ishbia, NBA insider Marc Stein (Substack link) says Heat assistant Chris Quinn and Cavaliers assistant Jordan Ott have been “repeatedly forecasted in league coaching circles” to reach that final stage of the search process.

Quinn, a former NBA player, worked as an assistant for Northwestern in 2013/14 before joining Miami’s coaching staff under Erik Spoelstra in 2014. He has since emerged as Spoelstra’s top lieutenant, having spent more than a decade on the Heat’s bench and served as the club’s acting head coach when Spoelstra has had to miss games.

Ott was part of coaching staffs with the Hawks, Nets, and Lakers before reuniting with Kenny Atkinson in Cleveland a year ago. Ott, who previously worked under Atkinson in Brooklyn and attended Michigan State like Ishbia, was reportedly a finalist last spring for the head coaching job in Charlotte that ultimately went to Charles Lee.

Quinn and Ott are among four candidates confirmed to have interviewed with Suns general manager Brian Gregory, along with Cleveland assistant Johnnie Bryant and Dallas assistant Sean Sweeney.

According to Stein, the expectation was that Gregory would meet with Thunder assistant Dave Bliss in Oklahoma City over the weekend. Stein doesn’t confirm that the meeting took place as planned, but notes that Bliss wasn’t expected to fly out to meet the Suns while his team was preparing for the NBA Finals.

Marc J. Spears of Andscape and NBA insider Chris Haynes (Threads link) have both stated that Suns assistant and former NBA head coach David Fizdale was also still in the mix for Phoenix’s coaching vacancy entering the team’s third round of interviews. The club initially identified between 15 and 20 candidates for the job before advancing nine of those candidates to the second round of the process.

Southeast Notes: Hornets, Mitchell, Burks, Hawks

May 30th, 2025 at 8:03pm CST by Eli Cohen

The Hornets have the ignominious honor of holding the league’s longest active playoff drought, leaving them with many questions to answer heading into the offseason, according to The Charlotte Observer’s Roderick Boone.

In a mailbag column, Boone writes that he expects the team to add more veteran presence to its young core, along the lines of last year’s Taj Gibson signing. The goal would be to help build a winning locker room culture and assist in the development of head coach Charles Lee, who himself is still learning the ropes of being an NBA veteran coach.

Boone also advises fans not to overreact if 2024 lottery pick Tidjane Salaün spends more time in the G League next year, writing that rushing his development would be a mistake and would hurt him in the long run. The sixth pick in last year’s draft averaged 5.9 points and 4.7 rebounds in 20.7 minutes per night for Charlotte, while shooting just 33.0% from the field and 28.3% from three, though he was always known to be a project who would take multiple years to be ready for major contributions.

As for roster moves, Boone says the team could use another center or power forward, especially one who can shoot. Meanwhile, Tre Mann appears to be on the road to recovery from a back injury that cut his season short and is entering restricted free agency. If he’s healthy, Boone believes that he might be more likely to sign a qualifying offer and hit the open market next year than to sign a long-term deal.

We have more from the Southeast Division:

6’4″ shooting guard V.J. Edgecombe is rumored to be a favorite for the Hornets‘ fourth overall pick in the 2025 draft if he’s still available, writes Boone. Boone points to his strong defensive pedigree as a great fit between LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller in Lee’s system, but warns that he’ll need to improve his ball-handling to become a more well-rounded offensive threat.
After a strong second half of the season following a mid-year trade to the Heat, Davion Mitchell is expected to receive an $8.7MM qualifying offer making him a restricted free agent, writes Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. However, Chiang writes that the most likely outcome is that the Heat allow another team to pursue an offer sheet with the 26-year-old defensive-minded guard before deciding how he fits into their future plans. Chiang writes that Mitchell could garner offers that approach the full mid-level exception ($14.1MM), and the Heat are only around $4MM from the luxury tax without much hope of putting together a top-tier team for next year. They are also expected to pursue as much cap space in 2026 as possible, making multiyear deals complicated.
After a career shooting year, Alec Burks is hoping to be back with the Heat next season, writes Chiang. “It was a good year. I learned a lot. Even though I’m in my 14th year, I still learned something. So I’m glad I was here,” Burks said. The soon-to-be 34-year-old started both play-in games for Miami but only appeared in Game 1 of the team’s first-round matchup with the Cavaliers. Coach Erik Spoelstra praised his ability to stay ready for whatever was asked of him, saying, “There aren’t a lot of vets that really want to accept these kinds of roles. That’s just the reality. And he is not only able to accept it, but he thrives in that role.”
The Hawks are desperately trying to move out of the middle of the pack to become a legitimate contender, writes Keith Smith of Spotrac. The front office has decisions to make regarding the free agency of longtime center Clint Capela, who was supplanted this year by Onyeka Okongwu in the starting five, as well as new acquisitions Caris LeVert and Larry Nanc e Jr., which could decide how the team’s depth looks next season. Smith writes that it would make sense for LeVert and Atlanta to come to terms on a deal in the ballpark of $12MM annually over two or three years, while the team’s ability to retain Nance may rest on what kind of outside offers he gets. Dyson Daniels and Trae Young are both extension-eligible this summer, though Smith believes it would make more sense to extend Daniels than Young, given that Young’s role in the team’s long-term plans remains uncertain. And, of course, none of this is likely to happen before the team replaces recently fired general manager Landry Fields.