The Miami Heat’s biggest splash of the offseason so far was adding guard Norman Powell, who wasn’t shy about his admiration for Dwyane Wade, the greatest player in Heat franchise history.
Here is what the 10-year veteran said last week during his first presser with the Heat.
“Hearing it was Miami, I was really excited. I’ve had a couple guys I’ve played with who played for the organization and said amazing things about the city, the fans, the organization,” Powell said. “Thinking back to my childhood, being a big fan of Dwyane Wade. Watching for the Heat. Wanting to play for the Heat … was a childhood dream. Definitely was a full circle moment for me.'”
For more on those quotes, click here!
Wade spoke about the move for the first time on his latest podcast on his latest podcast episode of Time Out with Dwyane Wade on the WY Network on Tuesday.
The Heat’s all-time leading scorer and three-time champion spoke glowingly about Powell’s fit with Miami, but he also recollected to the moment that he found out about the trade after seeing Powell in Europe earlier this summer.
“I was golfing. I come back and I got a text and [Norman Powell] was like, ‘Yo, big bro, I’m on my way. I’m going out to Miami dawg. I can’t wait to put a jersey on.’ And I’m like, ‘Who is this?'” Wade recalled. “Then I was like, ‘Oh it’s Norman!’ … I know how much inspiration he took from the player that I was. … It’s cool to have that connection. It’s a dream for him to put that jersey on because he grew watching one of his favorite players play in that jersey.
“You know how good Norman is … For the Heat to be able to get a player like that, with [Bam Adebayo] and [Tyler Herro] as No. 1-2 options, it’s like ‘Alright, let’s go!’”
That’s an awesome story from Wade — and it’s cool to see more players on the Heat who looked up to Wade, once upon a time. Only if we could get the Heat great back in the organization (dang Jazz!).
Powell, 32, had the best year of his career after Paul George flocked to Philadelphia, averaging 21.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game on 41.8 percent shooting from 3-point range.
Powell is one of the best shooters in the NBA and should fit seamlessly in a Heat offense that’s been a bottom-third unit each of the last three years. He’s an excellent replacement for Duncan Robinson, who signed a three-year deal with the Detroit Pistons earlier this summer.
The 6-foot-4 guard can thrive in any role, and I’m expecting him to have a sizable role alongside Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo and Andrew Wiggins heading into the 2025-26 season.
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not only is dwade the best player in heat history but also the best gm in heat history.norman powell is a great pick up.hes always been a good player and i think his best years are ahead of him.
Beal is gone to the Clippers. I almost feel glad because that was just another distraction, and another player in an unideal situation we could do without. Then there’s the silly idea about LeBron. It will never stop as these players are just shopping around and every time they do, the Heat get mentioned. We should not take it seriously.
The one thing you can learn from this is there are plenty of other places for players to go and no one has a particular preference for or against the Heat.
But, Giannis really is coming, but he says we have to sign Xion first.
And we have to bring Wade out of retirement.
In the absolute sense, Beal is still a better player than Powell on paper. If Miami could have gotten Beal on the same contract that he’s signing with the Clippers, that would have been a good move. More money for Beal would have been an increasingly worse move.
However.
Beal has been weird and flaky in Phoenix, and you can’t be a good basketball player if you’re not on the court. Oddly, I think he’d have been a better fit in Miami, rather than on an LA team where your two top guys are aging superstars with histories of injury and unreliability in Kawhi and Harden. Miami might have had more room for error.
Either way, I’m glad we have Powell, and now all we gotta do is flip Terry for a back-up quality big, somehow.