The 2025 NBA Draft suddenly became very important for Miami Heat

On Thursday, the Miami Heat officially acquired forward Andrew Wiggins, Davion Mitchell and Kyle Anderson in exchange for disgruntled star Jimmy Butler.

Though lumped in was one of the more valuable asset of the entire deal: A 2025 top-10 protected pick from the Golden State Warriors. If not conveyed this season, the pick will be a top-10 protected first in 2026, which will turn into a 2027 unprotected first if not conveyed in 2026 either.

If chips fall properly, the 2025 NBA Draft becomes very important for Miami Heat:

Heading into 2024-25, the Heat’s only possible source of draft capital for the 2025 NBA Draft was a lottery-protected first owed to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Thus, if the Heat missed the playoffs, they would have a 2025 first-round pick, though it would lock up their 2026 and 2028 firsts (Charlotte)–limiting the amount of assets they would have been eligible to trade this offseason.

As it currently stands, the Miami Heat (25-25) are positioned to be outside of the lottery, rewarding the top-seeded Thunder with the pick. But with Golden State’s top-10 protected pick–meaning it’s the Heat’s if it’s anywhere from 11-30–the 2025 draft has suddenly become far more important and realistic to get into.

That’s assuming the Warriors don’t luck into a top-10 selection. They are currently 26-26, which means they would most likely have No. 12, 13 or 14 since it is tied with Phoenix and Sacramento in the Western Conference standings.

For perspective, those three picks have a 4.7 percent chance to earn a top-4 (not eligible for 5-11) pick. It’s not impossible for the Warriors to miraculously fall into the top-4, but it’s very unlikely–should they be a lottery team. Anomalies happen. Don’t forget, the Atlanta Hawks leaped from 10 to earning the No. 1 overall pick last year.

But as it stands right now, the Miami Heat would (likely) have one pick in the middle of the first round, where it’s been arguably the most successful organization in drafting for the last decade.

Bam Adebayo was drafted No. 14 overall in 2017; Tyler Herro was selected No. 13 in 2019; Jaime Jaquez Jr. was drafted No. 18 in 2023; rookie center Kel’el Ware was drafted No. 15 last summer. The biggest miss in between that span was Precious Achiuwa (No. 20), but they immediately made up for it by selecting Nikola Jovic No. 27 the following season.

That’s not to mention second-rounders Josh Richardson, who they parlayed for Jimmy Butler in 2019, and rookie Pelle Larsson, who’s already one of the team’s best point-of-attack defenders despite a shortened role in the rotation.

The undrafted pool of players the Heat has plucked and developed would take seven years to list. The point is: The Heat have an elite scouting department, headed by vice president of basketball operations Adam Simon, who’s been in the organization for nearly three decades.

Miami picked a direction Thursday, leaning into youth, athleticism and defense. Owning at least one 2025 first-round pick would allow Simon and Co. to lean into that trend a little bit more.

And the 2025 NBA Draft–from Cooper Flagg to VJ Edgecombe to Thomas Sorber to Tre Johnson–where you want draft capital. After last year’s class was flat at the top, there projects to be multiple players can alter the course of a franchise. We won’t know until the next half-decade is over, but the potential is staggering.

This could be a perfect opportunity for Adam Simon to do what he does best: Find talent to add to this core that he helped build between Herro, Adebayo, Jovic and Ware, among others.

As I have talked about before, players on cost-controlled contracts are invaluable in today’s NBA. When one of the best scouting departments has the opportunity to add talent, those picks become all the more important as the Heat transition into this next build.

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