The Miami Heat are hoping to get last year’s sour taste out of their mouth heading into the 2025-26 season.
While they will be without Tyler Herro for presumably the first month of the season, Miami is looking to capitalize on a wide-open East while searching for a new identity — which remains “unknown.” It’s no secret they have been mediocre the last three seasons. But they’re now transitioning to their first full season without Jimmy Butler for the first time in over a half-decade. There’s a chance none of that changes.
According to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, the Heat’s new “core trio” — Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Kel’el Ware — won’t change that status. Bontemps recently tiered all 30 core trios, with the Heat’s still being “stuck in the middle.”
“The Heat are not a team accustomed to being stuck anywhere, but that’s where they seem to be after yet another play-in finish last season,” Bontemps wrote. “With Butler now having decamped to Golden State, the Heat are officially on the hunt for their next long-term star to pair with Adebayo. Perhaps that player is Herro, if he can make another big leap after a great season earned him his first All-Star berth. Ware, too, has a lot of promise as a super-active, long defensive big. But this team needs more if it’s going to leap out of the doldrums — even in the East.”
The other teams in that tier are the Chicago Bulls, Sacramento Kings and Toronto Raptors.
Obviously, the Heat are hoping for a bounce-back offensive season from Bam Adebayo, who closed the season incredibly strong. He averaged 19.3 points over his final 48 games, including 21.0 points from March onward on efficient 3-point shooting. Kel’el Ware has been incredibly impressive since Erik Spoelstra called him out (again) earlier this preseason. Though the second-year big is going to have to translate that — consistently — into the regular season against stiffer competition.
We know what Herro’s capable of after his first All-Star season. But he was exposed in the postseason and is close to reaching his peak defensively — which is still below average. He assumed the role of the Heat’s primary offensive engine last year, but it didn’t amount to anything.
Now that Norman Powell is in the fold, I’m curious how the dynamic changes; the Heat are more suited to run fast, but will have to lean into Powell, Nikola Jovic and Davion Mitchell to accomplish that consistently on a night-to-night basis. Accomplishing that over 82 games is far easier said than done.
What do you think about the Heat’s “core trio” heading into 2025-26? Let us know in the comments!
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I don’t think that is our core trio. For me it would be Bam, Powell, and Wiggins. But, Ware may become more important than Wiggins sometime this year. If we made a trade and added a stronger power forward or center to either grouping, and traded Tyler to get that player, I honestly think our guard situation would still be more than adequate. Bam having to play center, even for some part of the time, is still our biggest roster flaw.
Adebayo and Herro are overated and everyone in the league knows it. Everyone on the team is an average role player. This is a 35-win team at best.