Norman Powell Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Heat Notes: Jones, Jakucionis, Burks, Powell, Preseason

August 12th, 2025 at 3:06pm CST by Luke Adams

Kai Jones‘ workout with the Heat on Monday wasn’t just a one-day affair. According to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald, the free agent center is actually spending four days working out at Kaseya Center this week as the club considers whether to sign him. No decisions have been made yet, but a source tells Jackson that the Heat have “long shown an appreciation” for the former first-rounder’s skill set.

The Heat have 14 players on standard contracts and could make Jones their 15th man, but the club is just a little over the luxury tax line and may not fill that final roster spot to open the season. The big man is also ineligible to receive a two-way contract.

While Jackson suggests an Exhibit 10 deal could be a possibility, Jones has reportedly drawn serious interest from the Italian team Virtus Bologna, who could offer him guaranteed money and a more significant role, so it’s unclear if a non-guaranteed camp contract would appeal to the 24-year-old.

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Within that same Herald story, Jackson spoke to a veteran Eastern Conference scout to get his take on the Heat’s place in the Eastern Conference hierarchy, their offseason acquisition of Norman Powell, what they can expect from Simone Fontecchio, and his impressions of first-round pick Kasparas Jakucionis. On that last subject, the scout wasn’t especially enthusiastic. “NBA people I talked to in Las Vegas were killing him, didn’t have anything nice to say about him,” the scout said of Jakucionis. “Quickness and shooting were my concern. Can he beat [skilled NBA players] off the dribble? He better be able to make shots. His play was disappointing, but I’m not ready to judge. He’s [very young at 19].”
While Alec Burks expressed interest at the end of last season in returning to the Heat, a reunion with the veteran guard no longer makes sense after the club added Powell and Fontecchio, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (subscription required).
The Heat have no shortage of players benefiting from international competition this summer, with Powell, Fontecchio, Nikola Jovic, and Pelle Larsson all representing their national teams, as Winderman writes for The Sun Sentinel (subscription required). Powell led Jamaica to the two wins they needed in order to advance out of the World Cup pre-qualifying round before sitting out the third and final game of this competition window, Winderman adds (via Twitter).
The Heat and Magic announced on Tuesday that they’ll open their preseason with a game in San Juan, Puerto Rico on October 4. In total, the Heat will play six preseason games, as they outlined in a press release.
Heat Hall-of-Famers Dwyane Wade, Alonzo Mourning, and Pat Riley will be the presenters when longtime team owner Micky Arison is inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame next month, per a press release.

Heat Notes: Westbrook, Powell, Bridges, Herro, Fontecchio

August 4th, 2025 at 8:21pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Signing free agent guard Russell Westbrook wouldn’t make much sense for the Heat, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel writes. Winderman anticipates that Westbrook would rather sign with a team that has a stronger chance to contend.

Bringing in any free agent at this point creates salary cap and luxury tax issues for the Heat, according to Winderman, who also notes that Westbrook would likely to have to accept a role as the fourth guard in the rotation behind Tyler Herro, Norman Powell and Davion Mitchell.

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Powell, who was traded to the Heat by the Clippers last month, is training in South Florida but not with the Heat. He’s working out with the Jamaican national team, which is holding its training camp at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton to prepare for the FIBA World Cup 2027 Americas pre-qualifiers, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald, “I was expecting training camp to be in Jamaica, but then I learned that it was in Boca. And then being traded to the Heat, being so close to where I’ll be playing and being able to go down there and go to the facility, look for a place to stay. … It’s definitely cool,” Powell said.
Mikal Bridges‘ extension with the Knicks provides an interesting comp for future negotiations between the Heat and Herro, Winderman writes. While Bridges has never made an All-Star team or won an NBA award, unlike Herro, he’s a better two-way player. Bridges’ average of $37.5MM per season in his four-year extension still might not be enough to lock down Herro to a long-term agreement, notes Winderman.
Also at The Sun Sentinel, Winderman explores whether it would make sense for the Heat to utilize the stretch provision before the Aug. 29 deadline, pointing out that they could move below the luxury tax line by shedding some salary. The primary candidate, in Winderman’s view, is Simone Fontecchio, who was acquired in the Duncan Robinson sign-and-trade with Detroit. He has an $8.3MM expiring contract which could be stretched at $2.7MM over each of the next three seasons.

Bam Adebayo Endorses Heat’s Roster Moves

August 2nd, 2025 at 5:11pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat haven’t won a playoff series since their surprising run to the 2023 Finals, but Bam Adebayo believes the team’s offseason moves have it headed back toward contention, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Adebayo spoke to reporters Saturday at his youth basketball clinic in Miami, marking his first public comments since the Heat were knocked out of the playoffs by Cleveland in April.

“It’s a very good shake-up for our team and now there’s a different dynamic to it,” Adebayo said.

Miami added another dynamic scorer last month by acquiring Norman Powell from the Clippers in a three-team trade. After two straight top-four finishes in the Sixth Man of the Year voting, Powell moved into L.A.’s starting lineup last season and responded with a career-high 21.8 points per game. Chiang notes that he was one of just six players who averaged at least 21 PPG while shooting better than 48% from the field and 40% from three-point range.

The Heat were able to land Powell at a bargain price, sending versatile forward Kyle Anderson, veteran big man Kevin Love and a 2027 second-round pick to Utah in the deal.

“I feel like Norman is one of those guys that floats under the radar,” Adebayo said. “But as you saw this year, he’s really shown that he can be an All-Star caliber player. You’ve seen what he’s done and you’ve seen him grow in this league. And, obviously, he wants to take the next challenge. Obviously, the next challenge is being with the Miami Heat. So I’m happy to have him.”

Miami was also able to re-sign free agent point guard Davion Mitchell, who was acquired from Toronto in February. Mitchell responded to the trade by putting up 10.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.4 steals in 30 games with Miami while shooting 50.4% from the floor and 44.7% from beyond the arc. Chiang states that he also made a difference with his aggressive defense, as the Heat gave up 3.4 fewer points per 100 possessions when he was on the court.

“Davion being back, obviously, we’ve been missing somebody that can really play on-ball defense,” Adebayo said. “And having him come in and be that guy and understand his role, I’m looking forward to him being here for a full year and all of us being together and getting to know one another and turning this into more of a brotherhood. We were kind of disconnected a little bit trying to figure out everybody’s role and trying to figure out everybody’s style of play. But now we’re going to have a good training camp and then we go from there.”

Adebayo also talked about the teammates he lost as the Heat retooled their roster. In addition to parting ways with Love and Anderson, Miami sent Duncan Robinson to Detroit in a sign-and-trade deal that brought back Simone Fontecchio.

“I’m going to miss them, obviously,” Adebayo said. “Just because Duncan has been here for eight years and having that connection was special. And then K-Love was a leader that could speak to somebody from a championship level, could obviously encourage the younger group, be an example, but also he was the bridge between some of the coaches and the players. So like I said, I’m going to miss both of them. I’m glad we had the time that we did. It was, obviously, helpful for my growth and my development as a player and as a captain.”

And-Ones: Summer League, Clifford, Barton, Apron Teams

July 18th, 2025 at 12:17pm CST by Luke Adams

The Kings and Raptors will square off in one of the semifinal matchups at the Las Vegas Summer League on Saturday, while the Thunder and Hornets will match up in the other semifinal, according to an announcement from the NBA (Twitter link).

Those clubs are four of the six who have gone undefeated in Vegas and earned spots in the final four due to their point differential edge over the 4-0 Timberwolves and Hawks. The winners of Saturday’s semifinals will play in the Summer League championship game on Sunday night before the event wraps up.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

As impressive as No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg was during his brief stint with the Mavericks‘ Summer League team, Kings guard Nique Clifford beat Flagg out as the best rookie in Las Vegas, according to ESPN’s Kevin Pelton. Pelton also names Trail Blazers big man Yang Hansen the “most intriguing” rookie in Summer League, Pelicans guard Jeremiah Fears as the slowest-starting rookie, and Jazz big man Kyle Filipowski as the best second-year performer.
Veteran guard Will Barton, who spent 11 seasons in the NBA from 2012-23, is joining the DMV Trilogy in the BIG3 and will make his debut for the 3×3 team this Sunday, according to a report from Chris Haynes (Twitter link). Barton hasn’t been on an NBA roster since finishing a rest-of-season contract with Toronto in 2023. The 34-year-old has played in Spain, Puerto Rico, and China since then.
In an in-depth story for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks takes a look at which teams are members of the NBA’s “apron club” this season and which clubs are positioned to cross that threshold within the next year or two if they don’t end up shedding salary.
The Pistons‘ acquisition of sharpshooter Duncan Robinson, the Heat‘s trade for swingman Norman Powell, and the Pacers‘ addition of big man Jay Huff are a few of the top “under-the-radar” moves that have been made so far this offseason, says Fred Katz of The Athletic.

Heat Notes: Rozier, Ware, Larsson, Powell

July 16th, 2025 at 4:10pm CST by Luke Adams

Within a larger investigation into Malik Beasley and the Jontay Porter betting scandal, Tom Haberstroh stated during an episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out (YouTube link) that Heat guard Terry Rozier has not yet been cleared by federal investigators as part of their probe into illegal sports betting.

As we relayed last month, ESPN’s Shams Charania seemed to suggest during a segment on The Pat McAfee Show that Rozier had been cleared, but it was a vaguely worded passing remark on a live show rather than a concrete report, so it doesn’t come as a huge surprise that it wasn’t quite accurate.

NBA insider Chris Haynes confirmed Haberstroh’s reporting, tweeting that Rozier remains under federal investigation and hasn’t yet been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Rozier continued to play for Miami last season while that investigation was ongoing and remains under contract for one more season. He’ll make about $26.64MM on his expiring deal in 2025/26.

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After responding to Erik Spoelstra‘s criticism with a strong performance in Sunday’s Summer League game vs. Cleveland, Heat big man Kel’el Ware had another impressive outing on Monday vs. Boston, with 21 points and 15 rebounds. “It’s just something that I got to bring every day and like I said, ‘I will,'” Ware said after the game, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “… When I do it, it’s more of a presence that’s being felt out there. I just got to bring it, that’s it. Plain and simple.”
Second-year Heat guard Pelle Larsson left Las Vegas after Monday’s game to join the Swedish national team ahead of next month’s EuroBasket tournament, according to Chiang. Larsson was one of the team’s most effective players in Las Vegas, averaging 18.0 points and 3.7 assists per game while getting some reps as a primary ball-handler. “We were trying to grow his game,” Heat Summer League coach Eric Glass said on Monday. “We want him to still be the defensive stopper and role player on offense, but we gave him the ball and it gave him a much higher usage rate, obviously. It was a good experience for him. There were games when he was really good, games that there’s stuff on film now that we can teach him on things to do. But you can’t duplicate these kinds of reps in games. So we were really happy for that.”
New Heat guard Norman Powell has said he grew up idolizing Dwyane Wade and rooting for the Heat. Wade reciprocated that appreciation by praising Miami’s acquisition of Powell, as Chiang relays in a story for The Herald. “He’s just a great competitor out there on that floor, man,” Wade said of Powell. “That’s what Miami loves, Miami loves competitors and Norman Powell is that. So that’s another step in the direction that you want to see Miami turn to to get this thing right back on track and not go too far away from it. So that’s a good one.”

Heat Notes: Powell, Clutch Shooting, Cap Space, D. Robinson

July 9th, 2025 at 6:12pm CST by Arthur Hill

Norman Powell called it a “childhood dream” to play for the Heat during an introductory news conference conducted via Zoom on Wednesday, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. That dream was realized on Monday when the Clippers agreed to send Powell to Miami as part of a three-team trade that also included Utah. Powell wasn’t exactly expecting to be dealt after a career-best season, but it wasn’t a complete surprise.

“I didn’t know what to think at first,” he said. “It has been a crazy last couple of weeks, from talking to [Clippers general manager] Lawrence Frank at my exit meeting and what they were telling me. It was something I knew was a possibility, from them communicating teams were interested, inquiring about me. But it was made to seem like it wasn’t a high possibility of it happening and they valued me and wanted me to be a Clipper and we were going to figure out … extension talks.”

Powell’s love for the Heat comes from being a fan of Dwyane Wade while growing up. He believes he has the work ethic to fit right into Heat culture and said he can provide scoring punch in whatever role he’s given.

“I see myself as a plug and play,” Powell said. “I see myself as a key guy, a one, two option that can help carry a team to win. … I’ve always seen myself as a go-to guy that can help carry a team, help a team win. I don’t have a big ego of ‘I have to be the main guy.’ I want to win.”

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Powell should help the Heat improve their clutch shooting, which cost them several games last season, Jackson states in a separate piece. Miami posted the league’s worst record in close games after January 1 and ranked in the bottom two for shot-making in clutch situations throughout the entire season. Jackson notes that Powell was 12th in the league in clutch three-point shooting among players with at least 10 attempts, going 7-of-14.
The trade won’t have an immediate effect on the Heat’s cap space beyond next season, Jackson adds. Powell has a $20.5MM expiring contract, while Kevin Love also had an expiring deal and Kyle Anderson‘s $9.4MM salary for 2026-27 was non-guaranteed.
Powell represents a clear upgrade from Duncan Robinson, who was sent to Detroit in a sign-and-trade deal, contends Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. Winderman views Powell as a more complete offensive threat than Robinson, who is primarily an outside shooter. He adds that it would have cost close to $20MM per season to keep Robinson, so there’s not much salary difference in acquiring Powell.

Heat Notes: Mitchell, Powell, Beal, Lillard, Fontecchio, Ware

July 8th, 2025 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Davion Mitchell, who re-signed with the Heat this week after playing the best basketball of his NBA career following a trade-deadline deal that sent him to Miami, said on Tuesday that the organization is “completely different” from the other NBA teams he has spent time with (Sacramento and Toronto).

“One, coach (Erik Spoelstra) is one of the greatest coaches of all time,” Mitchell said when asked what makes Miami different, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “So just learning from him, just asking questions, you won’t get any better answers from anybody else, I think. And just my teammates, my teammates wanted me here, they embraced me here, they wanted me to be myself. If I can be somewhere and be myself, I know I can be the best player I can be.”

As good as Mitchell was in during his 30 regular season games with Miami, the team struggled during those contests, posting a 10-20 record. He’s optimistic that working together this offseason will help put the Heat in a better position to open the 2025/26 season.

“It’s going to be good for me and the team, just the chemistry that we can build,” Mitchell said. “We won a couple games, we even made it to the playoffs with very little chemistry, especially with injuries and just getting traded here. So we didn’t really know how to jell with one another. I feel like we kind of figured it out a little bit (near the end of the season. But to have a training camp with one another, just to go at each other, just to learn from one another, spend time outside of basketball with each other, I think is going to build a lot of team chemistry.”

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Mitchell is excited about Miami’s addition of Norman Powell, noting that the veteran wing will bring championship experience to the team. “He’s a winning player, he plays both sides of the ball, he can score with the best of them,” Mitchell said. “He kind of does it all. Even if he’s not shooting the ball well, he can disrupt defensively. So you want guys like that on the floor that can help you win like that.”
While the acquisition of Powell makes a Bradley Beal signing a long shot, the Heat are still in play as a possible Damian Lillard landing spot, Chiang writes in another Miami Herald story. However, Chiang believes Miami’s odds would increase if Lillard waits until midway through the season or next offseason to sign his next contract.
New Heat forward Simone Fontecchio, acquired from Detroit in the Duncan Robinson sign-and-trade, is hoping to fill a similar offensive role to the one Robinson played in Miami, according to Chiang. “I watched a lot of Duncan Robinson in the last three years, because I think our skill set is pretty similar,” Fontecchio said. “Of course, he’s a tremendous shooter and he did an amazing job all the years in Miami and I was always kind of looking at him, the way he was getting off shots and I always kind of wanted to do the same thing. I think I can try to play like a little bit off handoffs, running off screens, do a little bit of that.”
Sharing his takeaways from the Heat’s second Summer League game at this week’s California Classic, Chiang writes that the team will want to see more going forward out of second-year center Kel’el Ware, who put up an underwhelming stat line of 12 points (on 4-of-10 shooting) and three rebounds in 28 minutes in Sunday’s loss to the Lakers. As we noted last week, the Heat’s coaching staff had hoped Ware would “dominate” Summer League play ahead of his second NBA season.

Norman Powell To Heat, John Collins To Clippers In Three-Team Trade

July 7th, 2025 at 4:21pm CST by Arthur Hill

4:21 pm: The three-team trade is official, according to a press release from the Jazz.

9:27 am: The Clippers, Jazz and Heat have reached an agreement on a three-team trade, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). The deal will send Norman Powell to Miami, John Collins to L.A. and Kevin Love, Kyle Anderson and a 2027 Clippers second-round pick to Utah.

Powell is coming off the best scoring season of his career and will bring more offensive punch to Miami’s backcourt. After finishing fourth in the Sixth Man of the Year balloting in consecutive seasons, Powell was moved into the starting lineup and responded by averaging 21.8 points per game while shooting 48.4% from the field and 41.8% from three-point range.

Powell, 32, will make $20.5MM next season before becoming a free agent in 2026. He’s eligible for a three-year extension worth $77.4MM. Those limits would increase to $128.5MM over four years in six months.

The Clippers were reluctant to give Powell a long-term extension, sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). With Kawhi Leonard and James Harden both signed through 2026/27, the team is preserving cap space for 2027 free agency.

Miami will use the expanded traded player exception to acquire Powell, Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (Twitter link), hard-capping them at the first tax apron, and will be $1.3MM over the luxury tax line once the deal is complete.

Miami will be just $3.9MM away from that first-apron threshold once the trade is complete, so it won’t be able to use the full taxpayer mid-level exception of $5.7MM, according to cap expert Yossi Gozlan (Twitter link), who also speculates that acquiring Powell means the team is probably no longer a logical fit for Bradley Beal, who is believed to be nearing a buyout with Phoenix.

Collins, 27, will bring more frontcourt depth to a Clippers team that recently added Brook Lopez in free agency. Collins has been a starter in Utah since being acquired from Atlanta two years ago, but he was limited to 40 games last season. He has one year left on his contract at $26.6MM and can sign an extension worth up to $100.5MM over three years, per Marks. While a massive payday is unlikely for Collins, it’s worth noting those extension limits would increase six months after the trade to $166.7MM over four years.

L.A. is now $6.7MM below the first apron with $5.3MM of its mid-level exception remaining, according to Gozlan (Twitter link). With their top three-point shooter now gone, Gozlan expects the Clippers to be in the market for Beal.

Anderson, 31, has been a useful contributor on contending teams throughout his career, but it’s not clear how he fits in with the rebuilding Jazz. His contract covers two more seasons at $9.2MM and $9.7MM, but 2026/27 is non-guaranteed. Love, who’ll turn 37 in September, has a $4.15MM expiring deal and will likely become a buyout candidate.

Gozlan notes that Utah can create a $26.6MM trade exception by using the mid-level exception to take on Anderson and Love (Twitter link). Alternatively, the Jazz could create roughly $22MM in cap space by waiving the non-guaranteed contracts of KJ Martin ($8MM) and Jaden Springer ($2.4MM) and could be in position to make a play for one of the remaining free agents.

It sounds like Utah will continue operating over the cap, going the trade exception route, tweets Marks.

Pacific Notes: Collins, Beal, Warriors, Kuminga, Suns

July 7th, 2025 at 12:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Clippers view John Collins as their likely starter at power forward, according to Law Murray and John Hollinger of The Athletic. Collins, who is being acquired from Utah in a three-team trade, brings an athletic presence to L.A.’s frontcourt and adds more size to a team that had trouble matching up with Denver in its first-round playoff series.

Collins can be effective next to starting center Ivica Zubac, the authors note, and provides a good complement to backup Brook Lopez, a free agent addition who can space the floor for Collins to operate in the low post. Having more reliable big men also means less time at power forward for Kawhi Leonard and less responsibility for James Harden to guard opposing fours.

Norman Powell, who’s being sent to Miami in the deal, put together an outstanding offensive season, but he was less effective after the All-Star break, Murray and Hollinger observe. Some of the decline was because he was slowed by knee and hamstring issues, while Leonard’s return from injury also contributed. The authors state that Powell’s age, availability and fit all made the Clippers hesitant to give him an extension heading into the upcoming season.

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

The Clippers might pursue Bradley Beal if he reaches a buyout agreement with the Suns, but they’ll be limited because they only have $5.3MM of their non-taxpayer mid-level exception left to offer, notes Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Scotto lists Malcolm Brogdon and Chris Paul as other free agent guards the Clippers have expressed interest in.
The Warriors are also viewed as a potential landing spot for Beal, league sources tell Grant Afseth of RG. Golden State is still considered a strong candidate to add Boston center Al Horford, while landing Beal would provide another proven scoring threat to ease the Burden on Stephen Curry. The Warriors are also trying to determine how to handle restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga, and Afseth echoes a recent report that sign-and-trade talks with the Kings and other teams haven’t resulted in much progress.
Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic looks at how the Suns are planning to rebuild around Devin Booker, who’s expected to receive a two-year, $150MM extension this summer.

Windhorst: Timberwolves Most Aggressive In Pursuit Of Kevin Durant

June 16th, 2025 at 11:59am CST by Arthur Hill

The Timberwolves have been the team most aggressively pursuing Kevin Durant in trade talks so far, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said this morning during an appearance on Get Up (Twitter video link). Windhorst notes that Minnesota made a strong push to acquire Durant from the Suns before the February trade deadline to team him with Anthony Edwards, and that effort has been renewed this offseason.

Windhorst identifies the Raptors and Clippers as teams that are “lurking” in the Durant trade saga, with Toronto offering the ninth pick in this year’s draft along with combinations of players in “multiple different scenarios.”

A list of Durant’s preferred destinations leaked over the weekend, with the Spurs, Rockets and Heat said to be the only teams he would considering signing an extension with. However, Windhorst hears that those three teams “have not made offers that have gotten Phoenix excited.” A report on Sunday indicated that the Suns are more focused on maximizing their return in a Durant trade than sending him someplace he wants to go.

Sources tell Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link) that the Raptors are willing to give up either RJ Barrett or Immanuel Quickley to upgrade their roster, and several league figures have said they would consider including Jakob Poeltl as well if it means getting Durant in return. Phoenix is reportedly seeking a starting-level center for next season, and the Durant deal might be the best opportunity to acquire one.

Fischer reports that Toronto’s No. 9 selection is being viewed around the league as “perhaps the most likely top-10 pick in the draft to be traded.” He adds that the Raptors would prefer not to move out of the first round completely, so the Suns’ choice at No. 29 could be part of the deal.

Phoenix would love to get Ivica Zubac, Fischer adds, but the Clippers consider him off limits. However, he notes that L.A. has two future first-round picks and some swap rights that it could offer along with Norman Powell, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Derrick Jones.

Fischer doesn’t expect the Grizzlies to get involved in the Durant chase, even though they have a fresh collection of draft assets from Sunday’s Desmond Bane trade. He notes that Memphis was reluctant to pursue Jimmy Butler before the deadline because of fears that he wouldn’t sign an extension, and Durant is probably viewed the same way.

Addressing the Suns’ desire for a center, Fischer states that the team has done background work on Celtics big man Kristaps Porzingis in case he’s made available. Fischer also hears that Phoenix would be interested in free agent Myles Turner if he doesn’t re-sign with the Pacers.