After making the postseason, we knew the Miami Heat lost their own lottery-protected pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Though they still had Golden State’s pick in their treasure chest as a result of the Jimmy Butler trade. After finishing 48-34, that pick was positioned to finish anywhere from 18-20 because of a three-way tie in W-L record between them, the Memphis Grizzlies and Milwaukee Bucks.
The NBA announced the results of five tiebreakers on Monday, including that one. Subject to a random drawing, Golden State’s pick finished dead last of the three teams, with Memphis winning the tiebreaker.
Thus, the Heat will officially own the No. 20 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Miami has not had a pick in the 20s since they were No. 27 in the 2022 NBA Draft, where they drafted Nikola Jovic. Most of its recent success has come in the mid-teens, selecting Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware between 13-15.
Here’s each of the Heat’s first-round picks in the 20s throughout their franchise’s history:
- 2022: Nikola Jovic (No. 27 overall)
- 2020: Precious Achiuwa (20)
- 2005: Wayne Simien (29)
- 1999: Tim James (25)
- 1997: Charles Smith (26)
- 1988: Kevin Edwards (20)
The Heat are the perfect example of being able to find talent anywhere in the draft with a little luck (and a lot of scouting). This draft could get funky outside of the top-5. You never know how the board breaks until draft night. Plus, some of these teams value certain players way more than others.
We won’t know who officially keeps their name in the draft until late May. A lot can obviously change between now and then. I’m not in the front office, but among players who could be available for the Heat in that range include Ben Saraf, Danny Wolf, Nique Clifford, Rasheer Fleming, Boogie Fland and Carter Bryant.
The first round of the 2025 NBA Draft will take place on Wednesday, June 25.
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One more year and some shedding of salaries before Miami can really begin to look at a full re-tooling.
Could have had a little luck to stay teens