Heat Notes: Deadline, Powell, Mitchell, Smith, Spoelstra
The Heat are often linked to star-level players and this season has been no exception, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Ja Morant are among the noteworthy players who have been connected to the Heat over the past several weeks.
Still, unlike last year when a Jimmy Butler trade was an inevitability, there aren’t any Heat players looking to be sent out of Miami over the next 10 days. The Heat have good locker room chemistry, Winderman writes, but they’ve also had middling results again, currently just 25-22 and on pace to be in the play-in tournament for the fourth straight season.
Winderman takes stock of the Heat’s assets and potential trade candidates, noting that staying under the luxury tax line — they’re currently $1.6MM below that threshold — will be a priority this season.
One path the Heat could take prior to the February 5 deadline would be to consider dealing Norman Powell or Andrew Wiggins to potentially land another first-round pick, Winderman notes. Miami can currently only trade away two first-rounders (in 2030 and ’32) due to the Stepien rule, but adding another first would unlock additional picks to improve the roster.
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- Powell’s recent shooting slump have coincided with lower back tightness, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. The veteran wing finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds in Sunday’s win at Phoenix, but shot just 5-of-21 from the field. “There’s more to basketball than just putting the ball in the basket,” Powell said. “There’s leading, there’s giving yourself up. I’ve done that this whole week with playing hurt with my back spasm and everything like that. But tonight I wanted to make an emphasis on getting rebounds and securing the ball so we can get out in transition, and I was able to do that and get my double-double.”
- Starting point guard Davion Mitchell, who aggravated a left shoulder injury last Tuesday in Sacramento, missed his third straight game on Sunday, Chiang adds. “He’s definitely making progress, but we need to go through some kind of workout where he takes contact and then see how he responds to that,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked for an update on Mitchell’s status ahead of Sunday’s game. “But everything else is trending in a really good way.”
- Spoelstra praised backup guard Dru Smith for his play in the weekend victories in Utah and Phoenix, according to Winderman. “Dru was great both games,” Spoelstra said. “It was almost like a misprint. I think he had five steals (Saturday) night, but I think it was like 13 or 14 deflections. It was crazy.” As Winderman notes, Smith’s role may be tenuous when Mitchell and Tyler Herro (rib injury) are healthy again, but he says he’s focused on making the most of his minutes rather than how much he’s playing.
- Spoelstra, the new head coach of Team USA, is more focused on the Heat at the moment than his summer job, but he said he met with USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill and team director Sean Ford in November. “Right now, there’s not a whole lot of action going on,” Spoelstra said, per Winderman. “I’ve kept in touch with both Grant Hill and Sean Ford, and we met up probably two months ago. But it was more general talks of two summers from now and scheduling, and what that’ll look like. We’ll probably get together in some fashion this summer for a little bit more extended time. I don’t know if we’ll do anything with players, but certainly we’ll meet. I love the whole process, so of course when we play and compete against teams, there’s players that will come to mind. But I’m not sweating that right now. That’s really for Grant. It’ll be a collaborative effort. But there’s plenty of time for that.”
Luka Doncic, Immanuel Quickley Named Players Of Week
Lakers guard Luka Doncic and Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley have been named the Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Week, respectively, according to the NBA (Twitter links). The award covers Week 14 of the season, from Jan. 19-25.
Doncic led his team to a 2-1 record last week by averaging 34.3 points, 10.7 rebounds and 9.7 assists per contest. His best game came in Denver on Tuesday when he posted a 38-point triple-double in a road victory over the Nuggets. He also beat his former team in Dallas on Sunday en route to his second Player of the Week award of the season.
Quickley, who was named Player of the Week for the first time in his career, lifted the Raptors to four straight road victories by averaging 25.3 points on 61.1% shooting while contributing 6.8 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game. He matched a career high by racking up 40 points (on 11-of-13 shooting) in Tuesday’s win over Golden State.
Quickley’s name has popped up in rumors recently, with Toronto reportedly gauging his trade value.
Saddiq Bey (Pelicans), Kevin Durant (Rockets), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder), James Harden (Clippers) and Naji Marshall (Mavericks) were the other Player of the Week nominees from the Western Conference.
Bam Adebayo and Norman Powell (Heat), Jalen Duren (Pistons), Jalen Johnson (Hawks), Donovan Mitchell (Cavaliers) and Coby White (Bulls) were also nominated for Eastern Conference recognition.
Heat Notes: Powell, Ware, Spoelstra, DSJ, Adebayo
While Norman Powell has long been a productive scorer and excellent shooter, he has taken his game to new heights in recent years. In 2025/26, he’s averaging a career-high 23.7 points per game on .485/.416/.846 shooting for the Heat, making a strong bid for his first All-Star appearance.
As Fred Katz of The Athletic writes, Powell has become a “one-on-one savant.” As a result of the Heat’s offensive system, he’s on pace to more than double his previous career high in isolation plays, and he’s thriving in those situations. According to Katz, the Heat score 127.2 points per 100 possessions out of Powell’s isolations, which leads the NBA and would be the best mark single-season mark (for a player with at least 200 isos) since 2013, when Second Spectrum began tracking the stat.
Powell is earning roughly $20.5MM in the final year of his current contract and will remain eligible for a veteran extension up until June 30. If he doesn’t sign a new deal by that time, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
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- Second-year big man Kel’el Ware sat out Tuesday’s game against Sacramento due to right hamstring tightness.It was Ware’s first missed game of the season, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (subscription required), who notes that the banged-up Heat have an open roster spot and can add a 15th man without surpassing the luxury tax threshold but have shown no urgency to do so.
- Within a mailbag for the Sun Sentinel (subscription required), Winderman writes that Heat personnel decisions are “now a village” and aren’t made solely by team president Pat Riley. Head coach Erik Spoelstra has “considerable input” in those decisions, Winderman adds.
- After being waived by the Wisconsin Herd, former NBA lottery pick Dennis Smith Jr. has been acquired by the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Miami’s G League affiliate, tweets NBA insider Marc Stein. Smith, who hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2023/24 season, averaged just 8.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in 23.4 minutes per game across 11 appearances for the Herd. While the veteran guard is regarded as an above-average defender, he continues to struggle as a shooter, posting a .354/.250/.667 line for Milwaukee’s NBAGL team.
- Heat star Bam Adebayo is the winner of the NBA Cares Bob Lanier Community Assist Award for December, having been recognized for his off-court work, per a press release.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Bam Adebayo Named Players Of Week
Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Heat big man Bam Adebayo have been named the Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Week, respectively, the NBA announced today (Twitter links).
Oklahoma City had a 2-1 record during the week of January 12-18, with the reigning Most Valuable Player averaging 31.0 points, 4.0 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks per game. Gilgeous-Alexander posted a shooting line of .547/.400/.912 as the Thunder outscored opponents by 43 points during his 103 minutes on the court.
Gilgeous-Alexander becomes the first NBA player to be named the Player of the Week for the third time this season — he also earned the honor twice in November.
As for Adebayo, he posted averages of 27.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per night while shooting 65.5% from long range as the Heat won two of three games. This is the third time he has earned the award and first time since January 2024.
Donovan Clingan and Shaedon Sharpe (Trail Blazers), DeMar DeRozan (Kings), Luka Dončić (Lakers), James Harden (Clippers), Jamal Murray (Nuggets), Alperen Sengun (Rockets) and Victor Wembanyama (Spurs) were also nominated for the Western Conference Player of the Week award, per the NBA.
Brandon Miller (Hornets), Norman Powell (Heat), Pascal Siakam (Pacers), Anfernee Simons (Celtics), Jaylon Tyson (Cavaliers) and Nikola Vučević (Bulls) were the other Eastern Conference nominees.
Heat Notes: Ware, Haslem, Midway Point, Grades, Powell, Wiggins
Heat second-year big man Kel’el Ware continues to frustrate the coaching staff with his inconsistency. Ware was benched during the second half of the team’s loss to Boston on Thursday and coach Erik Spoelstra called him out afterward, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes.
“It was a tough matchup for him in Boston with all the coverages, and the same thing (Thursday),” Spoelstra said. “He just has to stay ready. Look, with Kel’el, I know that’s a lightning-rod topic. He needs to get back to where he was eight weeks ago, seven weeks ago, where I felt and everybody in the building felt, he was stacking days, good days. He’s stacking days in the wrong direction now. He’s just got to get back to that. Stack days, build those habits, make sure you’re ready and play the minutes that you’re playing to a point where it makes me want to play you more.”
Former Heat player Udonis Haslem said during a Prime Video appearance that Ware needs to make the coaches believe he’s deserving of more playing time.
“Put them in a position to earn their money,” Haslem said. “Put them in a position to say, ‘He is one of our top seven or right guys, he should be playing. Let me figure out ways to get him more minutes because he deserves those minutes.’ I understand your minutes are going to fluctuate based on the situation with coaches. There is nothing you can do about it. But what you can do is every time you step out on the basketball court, make sure your minutes are impactful, make sure your minutes are positive.”
Bam Adebayo made similar comments to the media.
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- With a 21-20 record at the midway point of the season, Miami hasn’t played to its potential, in Spoelstra’s view. “We feel like we’re better than where we are, but we are what our record is right now. That’s the bottom line,” the Heat coach said, per Chiang. “If you play games on paper, I think right now we would have a better record. But that’s not the case right now.” Adebayo believes the players need to be more focused and mentally tougher. “We are better than what our record says,” he said. “But until all of us commit to doing role-player things, we’ll keep being in the middle of the pack, mediocre. Until guys get sick of that middle ground of being seventh, eighth and not want to really make a push to be fourth or third in the East, we’re going to stay right here.”
- The Sun Sentinel’s Ira Winderman hands out midseason grades and gives Norman Powell an A and Jaime Jaquez Jr. an A-. Disappointing offseason acquisition Simone Fontecchio was awarded a D-.
- In the same story, Winderman opines that the front office might be better off trading Powell and Andrew Wiggins, noting the team is wallowing in mediocrity and could help its long-term outlook by acquiring draft capital. Powell will be an unrestricted free agent after the season while Wiggins holds a player option worth over $30.1MM for next season.
Heat Notes: Rotation, Powell, Herro, Rozier
Time is ticking on the Heat as they try to get an understanding of what their full-strength rotation looks like, writes Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The Heat’s game on Saturday was one of just a handful of contests in which their entire core was healthy and on the court, which is why their loss to the league-worst Pacers isn’t setting off alarm bells. However, Miami and players know that it’s time to figure out how the team plays at full strength.
“I mean, you gotta think about it,” Norman Powell said. “Like we’ve played a certain way for a while, you know, we had Pelle (Larsson) in the starting lineup, and then we went to the big lineup, and then another guy comes back in Tyler [Herro] who’s a scorer and can really boost your offense, and now everybody has to adjust and figure it out. It’s not gonna be as soon as it happens, as soon as everybody’s healthy we’re gonna be playing and clicking on all cylinders.”
The Heat are currently in eighth place in the Eastern Conference and are just 2.5 games out of a top-four spot despite all the lineup interruptions. Head coach Erik Spoelstra is confident that with a little injury luck, the offense should sort itself out.
“That group, when they’ve played together, there’s been an explosive offensive group,” Spoelstra said, while acknowledging the small sample that the unit has played.
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- Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle had high praise for Powell, despite the Heat wing only scoring six points in 22 minutes in Saturday’s matchup. “Norman Powell is such an important player for them,” Carlisle said (Twitter video link). “Powell, to me, is an All-Star this year, he’ll get a vote from me. I have no problem saying it publicly. He’s been really tremendous this year for them.” Powell is currently averaging a career-high 23.8 points per game while shooting 41.5% on 7.3 three-point attempts per game.
- The Heat were disappointed that Herro’s return to the starting lineup was delayed when Thursday’s game against the Bulls was postponed due to moisture on the court, writes Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “We were all looking forward to playing in Chicago,” Herro said. “I think that was one of our most, if not our healthiest we’ve been in quite some time. We all went to dinner after the game together like, ‘Damn, we were looking forward to playing.'” Against the Pacers on Saturday, Herro was able to make his first start in a month, scoring 21 points in 32 minutes with seven rebounds and four assists. Herro is active for the team’s game against the Thunder on Sunday, but the starting unit faced another setback as Powell missed the game with lower back soreness.
- One reason the NBA hasn’t terminated Terry Rozier‘s contract, which would free up cap space, is that the league hasn’t been granted access to the evidence that will be used in the federal case against Rozier, writes Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald (via Twitter). Because the league has no evidence to overturn its previous findings, it cannot move forward with terminating Rozier’s deal as it did previously with Jontay Porter‘s contract. Jackson writes that the Heat believe that they can still use his expiring salary in a trade.
Southeast Notes: McCollum, Wizards, Magic, Powell, Herro
There has been a greater focus in the past 24 hours on what Trae Young will bring to his new team in Washington, but Rod Beard of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes that CJ McCollum could be a valuable rest-of-season addition for the Hawks.
While Young has battled injuries and has been available for just 10 games so far this season, McCollum appeared in each of the Wizards’ first 35 contests and was off to a strong start for his new team, averaging 18.8 points, 3.6 assists, and 3.5 rebounds in 30.9 minutes per night, with a .454/.393/.804 shooting line.
Beard acknowledges that McCollum isn’t the play-maker that Young is, but observes that the 34-year-old should provide a little more resistance defensively than the longtime Hawk. McCollum has also historically been a more efficient scorer with a lower usage rate, which could make him a good fit alongside Atlanta’s current top scorers, Jalen Johnson and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
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- After a 1-15 start to the season, Washington has posted a more respectable 9-11 mark, including a recent stretch of five wins in seven games. According to Josh Robbins of The Athletic, several Wizards believe a November 16 players-only meeting was a turning point in the team’s season. “We weren’t meeting that standard at the time,” big man Marvin Bagley III said. “I think that meeting was well-needed. I spoke up and said my piece, and guys in the locker room spoke up as well, and we had a good talk. I think we came out closer as a unit, and it makes us understand each other more and want to go out and compete for each other. You can see it.”
- Orlando will be making a bid to host the 2030 NBA All-Star Game, as Jason Siegel, the president and CEO of the Greater Orlando Sports Commission announced on Thursday. Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (subscription required) has the story on the bid, which he says the Magic support.
- Speaking of the All-Star Game, Heat guard Norman Powell believes he “definitely” has a strong case to play in this year’s event, but he says he learned after last year’s snub not to get his hopes up, per Ira Winderman of The South Sun Sentinel (subscription required). “I want to make it. I think I deserve to make it,” said Powell, who is averaging a career-high 24.3 points per game on .490/.423/.861 shooting. “You know, my peers around the league after games and things like that are telling me that I’m an All-Star and that I should be there.”
- In his return from a toe injury on Tuesday, Heat guard Tyler Herro came off the bench for the first time since the 2023/24 season. Speaking after the game to reporters, including Winderman, Herro downplayed the subject, suggesting that it was “not really an adjustment” to be a reserve and that he was just grateful to be playing at all. “Just being out there was my biggest thing that I wanted to feel, and that’s how I felt,” he said. “I felt good. I’m healthy. So I just want to be available and be healthy.”
Heat Notes: Powell, Herro, Jaquez, Rebounding
Heat guard Norman Powell was forced out of Saturday’s game against Minnesota early in the first quarter with tightness in his right hamstring, but he was determined to keep playing, Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald writes in a subscriber-only story. Powell not only returned to score a team-high 21 points, he was active on Sunday as well, pouring in 34 points in a victory over New Orleans.
“I like thugging things out is what I like to say,” Powell explained. “I’m not a person that’s going to sit out or pull myself out of the game with certain injuries. If I’m able to play and I feel that I’m able to go out there and produce and be helpful for my team, I’m going to go do that no matter what the injury is. … I’m just a player that’s going to play through all the bumps and bruises unless I physically can’t go out there and play. I don’t want to take the game for granted. We’ve only got a limited number of games and time in this league, so I want to take advantage of every second of it.”
Powell is proving to be a valuable addition for Miami after being acquired from the Clippers in an offseason trade. L.A. was reluctant to commit to an extension for Powell, who has a $20.5MM expiring contract, but he appears to have a much better shot at a long-term deal with the Heat as he’s leading the team in scoring at 24.4 PPG.
“We’re getting to know him, he trusts his body, he knows his body better than anybody,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He said he was good. He did pass the protocols once he came back to the locker room. … Norm was fine the rest of the way, except for when he was getting clubbed in the head those two possessions in the fourth.”
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- Tyler Herro, who has only been available once in the last 13 games due to a right big toe contusion, was in uniform Sunday night even though there were no plans to use him, Chiang notes in the same piece. Herro will travel with the team on its four-game road trip and could be back on the court Tuesday at Minnesota.
- Jaime Jaquez Jr. sat out Sunday’s game with a sprained right ankle he suffered Saturday night, Chiang adds. It was just the second time this season that Jaquez hasn’t been able to play. “I just tried running, tried running, tried moving around on it, and it wasn’t really feeling right,” Jaquez said in explaining why he couldn’t return to the game on Saturday. “So that’s what caused that decision.”
- Powell says the Heat are “definitely not” where they want to be with a 20-16 record as they approach mid-season, Chiang states in a separate story. The team has been through hot and cold stretches, but has used a strong rebounding performance to win five of its last six games. “I think lately what really has become an identity is Bam (Adebayo), Kel’el (Ware), (Andrew Wiggins) putting pressure on the boards,” Pelle Larsson said. “And if we can do that, we can push the pace and do that, people are going to get really tired of us.”
Heat Notes: Larsson, Jovic, Adebayo, Herro, Trade Deadline
Pelle Larsson scored a career-high 21 points Friday night as he returned to the Heat’s starting lineup after missing the previous five games with a left ankle sprain, Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald writes in a subscriber-only story. Larsson’s shooting didn’t suffer from the layoff, as he connected on 9-of-13 attempts from the field and 3-of-4 from three-point range.
“You should have seen his rehab sessions, whether it was on the bike initially, it was just all out,” coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters. “Almost a level of throwing up. I walked in on one of those sessions, and then also his court sessions. He just pushes the envelope. And so, he had the conditioning. It’s different than game conditioning. But he was able to handle those 29 minutes. And you just see the glue intangibles that he provides.”
Larsson admitted being “pretty gassed” after his first game action in more than two weeks, but the Heat were glad to welcome him back, not just for his scoring but for the other things he does on the court. He brings a lot of intangibles that the team missed while losing eight of its previous nine games.
“We’re so happy to have him back in this lineup,” Jaime Jaquez Jr. said. “He’s the ultimate energy guy, really just gives everybody life and the spark that we desperately needed. So the fact that he was able to come in after so many games missed and just play like that just shows how hard of a worker and how great of a player he is.”
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- Also returning Friday was Nikola Jovic, who was sidelined for four games due to a right elbow contusion/laceration, Chiang adds. Wearing a protective sleeve on his injured arm, Jovic suffered through a rough shooting night, going 3-of-14 from the field and 1-of-6 from beyond the arc, but he contributed seven rebounds, four assists and a steal and finished as a plus-12 for the game. “I’m someone who when I miss shots, I get pretty mad,” Jovic admitted. “I’m pretty fired up. But during this time that I was injured, I talked a lot to assistant coaches and some of the people from the Heat and they helped me find a way to get back into (the game) quicker. … So, yeah it for sure helps and I think it helped me tonight. Even though I didn’t make a lot of them, I still felt great even shooting them.”
- Bam Adebayo will miss his second straight game tonight with soreness in his lower back. “He clearly is not moving well enough to compete. … He really needed this time,” Spoelstra said, per Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel (Twitter link). “He’s definitely making progress. He really needed this time just to get … he was dealing with some deals because of overcompensation. I think he’s feeling a lot better each day.” Tyler Herro, who has played just once in the last nine games due to a right big toe contusion, is “definitely making progress,” Spoelstra adds (Twitter link).
- In a full story for The Sun Sentinel (subscription required), Winderman makes the case for why the Heat should be sellers at the trade deadline and argues that Andrew Wiggins and Norman Powell should be moved to improve the team’s draft assets.
Heat Notes: Jakucionis, Guard Depth, Adebayo, Ware, Rozier
Friday’s loss at Boston was the sixth in the last seven games for the Heat, but they got an encouraging performance from rookie guard Kasparas Jakucionis, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (subscription required). Pressed into duty because of the team’s lengthy injured list, the 20th pick in this year’s draft got his first career start and responded with 17 points in nearly 36 minutes.
“He gives us the energy, the pace. He’s fearless in terms of his play-making, aggressiveness, getting into the paint,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He has really improved his three-point shooting. So that was definitely a bright spot. With Davion (Mitchell) being out, Kas got an opportunity and he really played well.”
Jakucionis has dealt with a bumpy start to his NBA career, caused in part by a sprained left wrist that sidelined him for part of training camp and the preseason, along with a strained right groin that forced him to miss the first seven regular season games. He has been playing mainly in the G League, where he’s averaging 16.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 2.5 steals per game with Sioux Falls.
“You never know when the chance is coming, when D-Mitch was out,” Jakucionis said. “I just have to be ready every time they need me, and I’m trying to stay ready every time they need me.”
There’s more on the Heat:
- Jakucionis’ potential emergence adds to an extremely crowded backcourt in Miami, Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel states in a mailbag column (subscription required). Injuries have been a factor so far, but Jakucionis could eventually be competing for playing time with Mitchell, Norman Powell, Tyler Herro and Dru Smith. Winderman notes that Pelle Larsson and Jaime Jaquez Jr. are also used in guard roles, so there could be difficult decisions about playing time if everyone gets healthy.
- Spoelstra experimented with small-ball lineups earlier in the season, but injuries have forced him to rely more on the double-big combination of Bam Adebayo and second-year center Kel’el Ware, Winderman observes in a separate story. The Heat tend to use Ware in drop coverage to protect the rim, while switching on defense more often when he’s not in the game. “I mean, it keeps teams off balance,” Adebayo said. “We’ve got to look at it in a positive way. We keep teams off balance.”
- In another piece, Winderman calls for commissioner Adam Silver to make a decision on what the Heat can do with Terry Rozier‘s contract before the January 7 salary guarantee date and the February 5 trade deadline get any closer.