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Heat Notes: Sweep, Draft, Free Agents, Grades, Offseason Outlook

April 29th, 2025 at 8:18pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Heat got a serious dose of reality in the playoffs, getting swept by Cleveland in the opening round and losing Game 4 by 55 points, which coach Erik Spoelstra described as a humbling experience.

“These last two games were embarrassing, but Cleveland is also a very good team,” he said, per Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “We won whatever we won, they won 64 games. We’re as irrational as we usually are, thinking that we have a chance to win this series and they showed us why we weren’t ready for that.”

Changes are coming for a team that had to fight out of the play-in tournament just to get the last playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.

“As an organization, yeah, we’re going to look at this and say this is unacceptable,” Spoelstra said. “We got to get to another level.”

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Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald details the draft assets the Heat have and the free agent decisions they must make this summer. Miami possesses the No. 20 pick, courtesy of the Jimmy Butler trade, but Oklahoma City will get their pick at No. 15. Other than the No. 20 pick, the Heat can only use their 2030 first-rounder in a trade before or during the draft. The team will likely issue Davion Mitchell a qualifying offer to make him a restricted free agent but that doesn’t necessarily mean the front office would match any offer sheet. The Heat also have to figure out what to do with Duncan Robinson‘s partially guaranteed contract.
Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel handed out his regular season and postseason grades for each player, with Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo and Mitchell at the top of the class and Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Terry Rozier drawing a D-minus and F, respectively, for the regular season, and matching F’s for the playoffs.
Patience must be exercised as the Heat look for ways to improve, ESPN Insider Bobby Marks opines in his offseason outlook. They have some expiring contracts to dangle and could have much more flexibility to chase free agents in the 2026 offseason if they’re prudent. HoopsHype’s Mark Deeks also takes an extensive look at the Heat’s offseason, including the contract situation for each player on the roster.

Heat Notes: Game 3 Loss, Starting Lineup, Ware, Herro

April 26th, 2025 at 9:57pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat were hoping to make their series against the top-seeded Cavaliers competitive after a close call Wednesday at Cleveland. Instead, they suffered the worst playoff loss in franchise history on Saturday and are staring at a likely insurmountable 3-0 deficit, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

Miami built an early 15-6 lead, but things fell apart quickly as the Cavs strung together a 33-5 run to put the game out of reach. The lead got up to 40 points in the second half as Miami fans expressed their displeasure with the effort.

“Once we jumped on them at the start of the game, then they just took control of it from there and it became an avalanche going the other direction,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “And sometimes when you care, there’s a level of discouragement that kind of fed into that avalanche and that’s what we all feel disappointed about.”

The Cavaliers dominated the game near the basket, registering 11 dunks and outscoring Miami 60-30 in the paint. Cleveland also collected 13 offensive rebounds while building a 22-10 advantage in second-chance points and had a 21-11 edge in points off turnovers.

“I know how much everybody cares,” Spoelstra added. “We just laid an egg today. A big part of it was Cleveland.”

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Davion Mitchell replaced Alec Burks in the starting lineup for Game 2, and Spoelstra went with the same approach on Saturday, Chiang adds. The starting five kept the game even during their 13 minutes together, but Miami was outscored by 37 points otherwise. Chiang notes that Cleveland was relentless in its attack on rookie center Kel’el Ware, who is minus-24 in 57 minutes so far in the series. “I understand he’s being fed through a fire hose,” Spoelstra said. “… We’re coaching him hard and I feel for him because there’s an expectation that he has to be there like a vet. These are important learning experiences.”
In an interview with Jared Weiss of The Athletic, Tyler Herro speculates that Miami’s season would have turned out much better if Jimmy Butler hadn’t forced a trade. Butler, who played just 25 games with the Heat this season before being dealt to Golden State in February, provided Herro with a complementary offensive weapon. “Obviously, I know I need Jimmy to win. If we had Jimmy right now, I feel like it’d be a completely different situation,” Herro said. “We probably wouldn’t even be the eighth seed. So finding that middle balance of like, damn, we need him, but also understanding, sh–, that’s his career and what he wants is ultimately his right to want what he wants. It was just tough to be in the middle of both sides.”
Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson commented on this week’s war of words between Herro and Darius Garland, Weiss tweets. “I don’t control what they say at all,” Atkinson said. “… Tyler is a great player, he’s an All-Star. Great competitor on both ends, much like Darius. It’s like the playground, you got someone you’re going at at both ends and there’s some verbal stuff that’s overblown. But once the ball goes up, none of it matters.”

Heat Notes: Mitchell, Jovic, Rotation, Wiggins

April 24th, 2025 at 8:14pm CST by Tristan Tucker

The Heat made a number of changes after a blowout loss to the Cavaliers in Game 1 of the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Chief among them, Davion Mitchell took over a starting role ahead of Alec Burks. While the Heat still fell in Game 2, Mitchell helped the Heat make a late comeback and get into the game in the closing minutes of regulation.

The starting lineup change led to a fast start for the Heat, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald notes, with the team getting out to an early lead. Mitchell ended up with 18 points and six assists, with 14 of his points coming in the fourth quarter.

“It was a couple different factors with that,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of the starting lineup change. “We wanted to be able to organize ourselves offensively at the start a little bit better. Get Tyler off the ball, Wiggs off the ball. Then obviously some defensive presence. [Mitchell’s] competitive spirit on the ball was very good all night and you’re dealing with two guards who can put a lot of pressure on you.”

In addition to adding Mitchell to the starting rotation, the Heat used Nikola Jovic heavily off the bench for his first big workload since he broke his hand in late February. He finished with 11 points and eight rebounds in 25 minutes and on the floor in the closing minutes of Game 2.

“We just look different when he’s on the floor,” Spoelstra said of Jovic. “He creates some stress with his skill and I’m pleased that he was able to play those 25 minutes. It’s a credit to him putting in all that time conditioning the last month or so.”

Pelle Larsson also saw some minutes off the bench, while Andrew Wiggins was limited to 28 minutes. Burks did not play after starting Game 1.

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Jovic took the blame for Miami’s loss in Game 2, Chiang writes in a separate story. He played the entire fourth quarter and helped spark the Heat’s comeback and Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson was complimentary of the boost Jovic provided. However, the 21-year-old forward was hard on himself after missing four threes in the fourth and committing two turnovers in the final three minutes. “I got what I wanted and that’s to close the game in the playoffs,” Jovic said. “The stuff that I did at the end is really unacceptable. I really did cost us the game and I just got to be better. This is my third year. I’m not a rookie anymore. I’ve seen what’s the deal and how to get to the playoffs, and the stuff that I did today was just not good. I’m really grateful that coach gave me the opportunity. I’m not worried about my shot. I know if I have those shots again, I will shoot them every time because I know I’m open and I know I can make them. They just didn’t go in and I got to be better.“
Wiggins not playing for the entire fourth quarter with Jovic taking over his spot raises some questions going forward, Ira Winderman of South Florida’s Sun Sentinel writes. Spoelstra said the intention was for Wiggins to come back into the game but he rode the hot hand with the group closing in on a comeback. “I actually put him at the scorer’s table at six to go,” Spoelstra said, “And the group wanted to keep on pushing through.” Spoelstra said the lack of minutes was not an indictment of Wiggins.
Donovan Mitchell put the game out of Miami’s reach with eight points in just over a minute of game time late in the fourth quarter. Dave Hyde of the Sun Sentinel opines that Mitchell is exactly the sort of superstar Miami lacks and could use. “He made some tough shots, shots that we can’t really — nothing we can do about them,’’ Davion Mitchell said. “The pull-up. A step-back, deep three-pointer. Those are the kind of shots you can’t get to.“

Southeast Notes: Rozier, Mitchell, Heat, Johnson, Magic

April 20th, 2025 at 8:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Heat guard Terry Rozier admits it’s been a rough season but he doesn’t want to be a distraction, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes. Rozier didn’t get off the bench in the play-in tournament, except to cheer for his teammates, including his de facto replacement, midseason trade acquisition Davion Mitchell.

“I don’t carry bad energy with me,” said Rozier, who has one year and $26.6MM remaining on his contract. “I’m not a hater. How he’s playing, Davion, I think we’re all excited to see that. So I don’t carry bad energy with me and I love to see it.

“Even if I’m not playing, we still got to get in the playoffs and give ourselves another chance to be able to enjoy that dance at the end,” Rozier added. “I’m just happy to be a part of the process, even if I’m not playing. You never know, I could play in Game 2, 3 or 4. I know how that stuff works. Just making sure I’m staying ready. And definitely me being positive, me being a good teammate, I’m never going to change.”

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Speaking of Mitchell, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is happy with the way the fourth-year guard and two other major in-season acquisitions, Kyle Anderson and Andrew Wiggins, have meshed with their new teammates. “They’ve fit in very well because they want to make it work,” Spoelstra said, per Chiang. “They’re winning players, winning personalities. They each bring something a little bit different, which are things that we needed. “Davion has that defensive presence and his toughness and his passion. We love the passion that he brings to the game. Wiggs is just a very good basketball player. The things that he does lead to winning because he plays both sides of the floor. He takes pride in doing that and doing it at a high level. And then Kyle, it just takes awhile to get accustomed to how he plays.”
Jalen Johnson couldn’t help the Hawks during the second half of the season after suffering a torn labrum in his left shoulder. He hopes to be at full strength by next season’s opener. “That’s probably the worst feeling in the world, just not being able to be out there and go out to war with my guys,” Johnson told Lauren Williams of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “It sucks, but sometimes you can’t control those things, and all I can do now is just do everything in my power for next year and play the whole season. That’s my goal, and I’m gonna do everything I can so I can be out there in those type of games with my teammates.”
Paolo Banchero racked up 36 points on Sunday but it wasn’t enough in a 103-86 loss to Boston in Game 1 of the Magic’s first-round series. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were held to a combined 33 points but Derrick White poured in 30 and Payton Pritchard tossed in 19. “That’s something that we as a team harped on coming in that they do have two main guys but it’s really the other guys that kill you,” Banchero said, per Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). “I just think we have to do a better job getting those guys off the line because they really kill you from 3.”

Heat Notes: Herro, Mitchell, Highsmith, Jaquez, Larsson, Jovic

April 20th, 2025 at 11:59am CST by Arthur Hill

Tyler Herro had to adjust to more attention from opposing defenses after the Heat suspended and ultimately traded Jimmy Butler, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

Herro estimated that Butler was creating three to five open three-point opportunities for him every game. With those gone, Herro responded by attacking the basket more often and taking more mid-range shots. The results have been positive as he averaged 27.4 points and 4.9 assists over the final 12 regular season games and 34 points and 5.5 assists in the two play-in contests.

“So just finding different ways to be aggressive,” Herro said. “I’m not going to get the same shots every game with just the way guys are guarding me. But I got to find different ways to be efficient. Also, context of games, knowing when to shoot the pull-up two, which I think I’m doing pretty well.”

After years of being included in trade rumors, Herro now seems like part of the foundation in Miami, which will lead to an important decision this offseason. Chiang notes that beginning October 1, he’ll be eligible for a three-year, $149.7MM extension. If there’s no agreement by October 20, he can wait for a four-year, $206.9MM extension next summer, which could become a super-max estimated at $380MM over five years if he earns All-NBA honors next season.

“It’s something I haven’t paid much attention to, obviously,” Herro said. “I’m going to let my agent and the organization figure that out. But everyone knows I want to be here long term and I’m definitely excited to see what they have to say for the extension, and see if they want me here as much as I want to be here.”

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Reserves Davion Mitchell and Haywood Highsmith played key roles in closing out Friday’s win at Atlanta, Chiang adds in a separate story. They were on the court together for 36 minutes, including all but 19 seconds of the fourth quarter and overtime. “They’re being stars in their role and that’s what we need them to do,” Bam Adebayo said. “Obviously, you see Davion’s offense, making shots, and H’s offense. But the little things that they do throughout the game, that’s what really gets us going, that’s what really gets the group together and getting in a rhythm.”
A week ago, Jaime Jaquez p0ured in a career-high 41 points in Miami’s regular season finale, but he was back on the bench for the two play-in games, notes Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. It’s been a frustrating season for the second-year forward, who had a regular rotation role as a rookie, but he’s trying to stay ready in case he’s needed in the playoffs while working on his shot with shooting coach Rob Fodor. “We get up a lot of shots,” Jaquez said. “I think one of the things with me is technique, my hand placement, getting my elbow where it needs to be, and my release, just get it out early. Those are the kinds of the things we talk about frequently.”
Pelle Larsson and Nikola Jovic have both fully recovered from their injuries and are available today without restrictions, Winderman tweets.

Heat Become First No. 10 Seed To Win Two Play-In Games

April 18th, 2025 at 9:04pm CST by Luke Adams

For a third straight year, the Heat have earned the Eastern Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot via the play-in tournament.

This time around, Miami made history by becoming the first No. 10 seed to make it through the play-in tournament since the event’s inception in 2021. After defeating the No. 9 Bulls in Chicago on Wednesday, the Heat registered their second consecutive road play-in win in Atlanta on Friday against the No. 8 Hawks.

The Heat led for most of the night until the Hawks made a fourth-quarter comeback and forced overtime. Trade-deadline acquisition and free-agent-to-be Davion Mitchell helped Miami secure the 123-114 win by knocking down a trio of three-pointers in the extra frame.

Tyler Herro (30 points), Bam Adebayo (17 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks), and Andrew Wiggins (20 points, eight rebounds, eight assists) also played key roles in the victory.

As a result of the win, the Heat have a first-round series on tap with the No. 1 Cavaliers. As the NBA announced this week (via Twitter), that series will get underway in Cleveland on Sunday evening. The Hawks’ season is over.

Friday’s game also had major draft-related implications. Because they made the playoffs, the Heat will no longer control their first-round pick, which will land at No. 15 overall and will be sent to the Thunder. Miami will still receive Golden State’s first-round pick, which will end up at No. 18, 19, or 20, depending on the outcome of a random tiebreaker on Monday.

If they’d missed the playoffs, the Heat would’ve hung onto their own 2025 pick and would’ve owed their unprotected 2026 first-rounder to Oklahoma City and their unprotected 2028 first-rounder to Charlotte. Instead, the Heat will keep their 2026 pick and will owe their lottery-protected 2027 first-rounder to the Hornets. That pick would become unprotected in 2028 if it lands in the top 14 in 2027.

The Spurs, meanwhile, control the Hawks’ first-round pick, which will now be No. 12, 13, or 14 in the lottery standings, depending on the outcome of Friday’s Grizzlies/Mavericks game and a Monday tiebreaker between Atlanta and Sacramento, both of whom finished with 40-42 regular season records.

If Dallas beats Memphis on Friday, that Hawks/Kings tiebreaker would be incredibly meaningful, since it would determine the 12th and 13th spots in the lottery — Sacramento owes its first-round pick to Atlanta if it lands outside the top 12, so the odds of the Kings keeping that pick would increase significantly if they move up to No. 12 in the lottery standings.

If the Grizzlies beat Dallas on Friday, that tiebreaker between Atlanta and Sacramento would be for the 13th and 14th spots in the lottery standings, putting the Hawks in position to claim the Kings’ pick regardless of the tiebreaker outcome (unless it jumps into the top four on lottery night).

Heat Notes: Mitchell, Play-In Tournament, Jovic, Larsson, Love

April 18th, 2025 at 11:02am CST by Arthur Hill

Re-signing Davion Mitchell figures to be an offseason priority for the Heat, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. The 26-year-old guard, who was acquired from the Raptors as part of the Jimmy Butler trade, has become a valuable component of Miami’s defense during his two months with the team.

“I’ve shown it this whole year,” he said. “With Toronto I was able to showcase some of the things I can do. I think that’s the reason why Miami traded for me. They can see what I can do. They can see what I do for this culture and I fit right in.”

The Heat can make Mitchell a restricted free agent — giving them the option to match any offer he receives — by tendering an $8.7MM qualifying offer. A former NBA executive told Winderman that Mitchell’s next contract is likely to start in that range, projecting something in the neighborhood of $30MM over three years. Mitchell recently locked in the value of his QO by topping 2,000 minutes for the season, which meant meeting the starter criteria.

Mitchell was expected to be part of the future in Sacramento when he was selected with the ninth pick in the 2021 draft, but he fell out of the Kings’ rotation after a promising rookie year. After being traded twice over the past 10 months, Mitchell hopes he’s found a more stable situation with the Heat.

“To play basketball in Miami, it’s a blessing,” he said. “I love being here. It’s a spot I come to during the summer, so I’m familiar with it and I got a lot of people out here that I know.”

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Miami is trying to make history by becoming the first 10th seed ever to advance through the play-in tournament and earn a playoff spot, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. The Heat are brimming with confidence after Wednesday’s convincing win at Chicago, and they’re ready to take the same approach to tonight’s game against the Hawks. “We locked in defensively,” Andrew Wiggins said. “This has to carry over to Atlanta. We got one more game to do the same thing. Lock in defensively and the offense will follow.”
Coach Erik Spoelstra expects Nikola Jovic and Pelle Larsson to be in uniform tonight, Chiang tweets. Jovic, who hasn’t played since February 23 due to a broken right hand, isn’t likely to see any action, although Spoelstra joked that he might be used as an inbounder. Larsson, who sprained his ankle last week, hasn’t appeared in a game since April 7.
Kevin Love is away from the team again due to personal reasons, Chiang adds (Twitter link). Love has only played 23 times this season and hasn’t gotten into a game since logging six minutes on March 21.

Southeast Notes: Larsson, Mitchell, Risacher, Middleton

April 12th, 2025 at 12:00pm CST by Tristan Tucker

The Heat lost rookie guard Pelle Larsson on Wednesday to a sprained ankle he suffered during a weightlifting incident, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes. The rookie out of Arizona called the incident a “freak accident.”

“I was lifting and just stepped and got my foot caught in something,” Larsson said. “So I just stepped on a twisted ankle, and it doesn’t feel great.”

Larsson isn’t sure if he’ll be ready for next week’s play-in tournament, according to coach Erik Spoelstra. It’s unfortunate timing, as he had established himself as a strong perimeter defender for Miami and started six games in a row with Andrew Wiggins sidelined, averaging 10.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.2 steals in those games, Chiang notes.

“It’s more frustrating than anything, especially when it happens off the court,” Larsson added. “It feels like you don’t have as much control. So it’s frustrating.”

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After playing 22 minutes in Friday’s matchup against the Pelicans, Heat guard Davion Mitchell crossed the 2,000-minute mark on the season and met the starter criteria. That means his qualifying offer this season will remain at $8,741,210 — it would have dipped to $7,976,830 if he had fallen short of 2,000 minutes.
Hawks No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher continued his late-season push for Rookie of the Year consideration on Thursday, scoring a career-high 38 points against the Nets. According to the team (Twitter link), Risacher’s 38 points were the most by any rookie in a single game this season.
Wizards forward Khris Middleton has been out since March 27 and will probably miss the team’s final game of the season on Sunday, according to The Washington Post’s Varun Shankar (Twitter link). In 14 games with the Wizards, all starts, Middleton averaged 10.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists per night.

Heat Likely To Extend Qualifying Offer To Davion Mitchell

April 8th, 2025 at 9:21pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Heat want to retain Davion Mitchell and will likely extend a qualifying offer to the guard, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports.

That would make Mitchell a restricted free agent, allowing Miami to match an offer sheet, though a sizable multiyear offer could price the cap-strapped Heat out of the market.

Mitchell’s qualifying offer would be $8.74MM if he meets the starter criteria and $7.98MM if he doesn’t. He’ll need to play at least 50 minutes in the final three games of the regular season to reach the 2,000-minute mark for the season and meet the criteria.

Mitchell has excelled for the Heat after being acquired from the Raptors in a mid-season deal. He’ll have options if the Heat give him a QO. He could choose to accept it, sign an offer sheet from another club, or work out a multiyear deal with Miami.

Playing mainly the point for the Heat, Mitchell is averaging 10.3 points and 5.2 assists per game and shooting 49.5% from the field and 45.3% on three-point tries in 27 outings (14 starts) for Miami. Known primarily for his defensive prowess, Mitchell spent his first three seasons as a rotation player with Sacramento.

Florida Notes: Wiggins, Heat, KCP, Magic

April 6th, 2025 at 10:04pm CST by Rory Maher

Heat forward Andrew Wiggins has been plagued by a variety of ailments since he was traded to Miami in February, with the latest being right hamstring tendinopathy, which has cost him the past five games.

According to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel, Wiggins said the injury “had been kind of lingering a little bit,” but he plans to return sometime this week — he’s questionable for Monday’s contest vs. Philadelphia.

“Definitely been frustrating, just because I want to be out there, playing with the guys and just fighting,” Wiggins said. “I feel like this is a new thing for me. I feel like usually I play throughout the season a lot of games, but being hurt sucks.”

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Injuries and an inability to hold leads are the primary reasons the Heat are heading to the play-in tournament for the third straight season, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. The Heat were shorthanded in Saturday’s overtime loss to Milwaukee, as Wiggins, Tyler Herro (right thigh contusion) and Nikola Jovic (broken right hand) were all out. “We’re going through adversity, we’ve been through it before,” guard Davion Mitchell said, with the team also enduring a 10-game losing skid last month. “I think it’s good for us, especially with the postseason coming up. You know there are going to be close games and we’ve been through the fire before. So this is a good loss for us, honestly. We’re going to learn from it and we’re going to keep going.”
In the five seasons leading up to 2024/25, veteran shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had shot a combined 40.3% from three-point range, with his lowest mark in a single season over that stretch being 38.5%. Through the end of February — a span of 58 games — Caldwell-Pope was shooting just 30.6% from deep in his first season with the Magic, which would have been a career low. However, he has caught fire since the start of March, per Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (subscriber link), converting 50.0% of his triples over the past 16 games, and the Magic desperately need his hot outside shooting to continue to have a chance at postseason success.
The Magic have leaned heavily on their defense to get back on a winning track with the postseason quickly approaching, Beede writes in another story. Orlando has gone 9-5 over its past 14 games in large part due to its third-ranked defense. “It’s us getting closer to the end of the season, understanding that we need to be hitting our peak now,” big man Wendell Carter said. “I know we had a lull in terms of our defensive rating but we’re one of the top defenses in the league. And we’re going to continue to get better on that end of the court.”