The Miami Heat ended another rocky 2025-26 season is disappointment as they were eliminated in the play-in tournament— marking the franchise’s first time since 2019 that they failed to reach the NBA Playoffs.
Additionally, it was their first out of four straight appearances that they were unable to make it out of the play-in. Miami finished the campaign with a 43-39 record as the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference. They picked up six more wins than they did in the previous season, but nonetheless, still far from good enough.
The Heat have been stuck in mediocrity ever since their 2023 NBA Finals run as an eighth seed. And there are clearly questions surrounding the state of the franchise that fans need answered.
Longtime team president Pat Riley did his best to address those questions in his annual end of season press conference with the media on Monday. Here is your full recap:
“I’m not going to retire… I want another parade down Biscayne Boulevard.”
”I want to build this around Bam.”
”We’re gonna be aggressive as hell to make the team better.”
”Players want to play in Miami… I still think we’re a destination place.”
Most notably, Riley iterated that his commitment to improving the roster and putting the Heat in a better position to compete.
A key word that he noted throughout the press conference was “flexibility” within the financial aspect of the roster. Guys like Norman Powell and Andrew Wiggins, who are making roughly $20 and $30 million, respectively, could become free agents. Terry Rozier’s near $30 million salary that took up space this past season won’t be in the picture anymore.
Miami owns their first-round draft selection in June, and is slated to have the best odds of landing around the 12-15 overall pick slot. Of course, whale hunting will always be the game plan, as stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Ja Morant and potentially many more could shake free.
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I think Riley is basically saying, we ain’t tanking unless the team does it best and happens to end up as a lottery team (like, the players do their best and still end up in bottom 5). Which kind of sucks because I don’t think he’ll ever go after players who are so bad that will allow the Heat to finish in the bottom 5 of the NBA.
I’m upset he didn’t explicitly say I’m trading for Giannis. What a shame. 😛
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If the Heat makes few if any significant changes/improvements, I can see them again finishing as a lottery team, possibly landing behind the following teams in next year’s Eastern Conference standings:
If the best Arison, Arison & Riley can do in 2026-2027 is deliver another marginal play-in team, isn’t it better for the team to clean house and start over with Bam, younger players and draft picks?
I think it’s probably time to do that now. I agree there is a real chance of us falling further if nothing significant is accomplished this off season. If the Heat do have another non playoff year, it will get harder for our GM to say the same things next year at this time. Or will it?
I think you could add Washington to that list. If AD and Trea play, and the younger pieces like Sarr, George and Riley grow, they’ll leap frog a static Miami IMO.
Washington trade for Trae was swapping contracts /a salary dump by ATL. The trade for AD was speculative more than anything IMO. All-NBA player and maybe he stays healthy and has more trade value later. Watched their games vs Heat and their best player was Will Riley in those games
He mentioned Powell, Herro and Wiggins as players he should talk to about contracts.
Those are exactly the players, which guarantee mediocrity. Too good to let the team sink, and not good enough, to elevate the team to another level.
If he sign one of those three, it would be a mistake. Two out of three, it would be a big mistake. All three, a terrible mistake.
I think Riley will try to send Herro out in a trade, if not this summer, during the season, without contract extension. But he will sign both Powell and Wiggins, one for sign and trade, another to keep.
My prediction then is, that Herro (after another failed whale hunting) will still be in the team in October, and one of Wiggins and Powell too.
Count in Bam, Jovic and Mitchell and their contracts, there is already 140m committed.
They will probably wants to extend Larsson and JJJ, which is a smart thing to do.
Too summarise, if Riley will go the way he said he will, we can expect practically the same team at the beginning of the season as we saw past season.
Thats unacceptable.
You can’t let Andrew Wiggins walk for nothing after the Jimmy Butler trade. He’s a solid 3-and-D wing that can help any team. Powell and Herro are also assets, although you are absolutely right about them not being able to elevate a team to another level. But PLENTY of teams could use their skillsets. You think Powell or Herro wouldn’t have made a difference this year on a team like Houston that was in dire need of playmaking in the backcourt? Or being a secondary scorer next to Cade Cunningham in Detroit? Or provide the Magic SOME kind of consistent outside shooting besides Desmond Bane (if Bane was worth four 1st round picks to the Magic, you’d have to think Herro is worth SOMETHING)?
Herro has kinda been undervalued since he was the main asset that the team was using for whale hunting (you already hinted at that point). Injuries are what hurt Herro’s top level value. But I’m still confident the team can find the right trade partner(s) to get assets for him.
Way too early to project the finish for next year. The West likely again will have the top contender in OKC. SAS also. East is probably still deeper 1-10 though. Some of the contending EC teams will make changes as a result of these playoffs. Also don’t see the logic at all in putting tanking teams lacking in talent like CHI and WAS over Miami next year.
As always, hearing from Riley is a great reminder of why he’s such a great GM. This dude – literally – has more championship rings than any current active NBA player, coach, or exec. And he was talking about the last few minutes of the 9/10 play-in game like it was the most exciting game of his life. I think we could all learn a thing or two from the old man. Riley rules.
Now for the down side. He really didn’t give any concrete plans for what he plans to do. He just said he wants to “make the team better”. In the past, Pat’s brutal honesty would give us a pretty good idea for what to expect in the offseason. But I didn’t really hear why the Heat haven’t made a move in the past couple years, and I didn’t get any indication of what they plan to do next, other than the fact that they won’t trade Bam.
The only real nugget he dropped is that cap space is now pretty useless because these dudes are making so much money that it’s impossible to clear enough space. So if something is going to happen, it’s going to be a trade. And he hates the word “whale”.
So I dunno. I guess if they make a big trade or win the lottery this offseason, I’ll get excited. Otherwise, I didn’t hear anything that makes me think he has a plan to prevent us from watching another year of leftovers
I agree. If his actions only mirrored his words.
Thought the takeaway was that the theory of team building is still the same – build a competitive team, turn it into a contender with a star acquisition. It worked in 2010, 2019 with the Lebron and Butler trades. Still a good idea in theory.
On cap space I don’t think it’s that the players are making too much but how the 1st/2nd aprons function now as an effective hard salary cap.
The 1st apron was put into the 2011 CBA after the owners locked out the players in negotiations. The split of BRI money also went from 57% players to a 51-49 split between players and owners, a big win for the owners.
2nd apron was put in in 2023 CBA, another big win for owners that the players agreed to it. It actually takes away draft picks, ability to make trades from teams if they exceed it in multiple years. The threat of the aprons to team building that we hear about all the time now is what the owners wanted, it’s an excuse to limit spending. The downward pressure on player contracts now, a focus on avoiding “bad” contracts, maximizing low cost 1st/2nd round picks is because teams treating the aprons like a hard salary cap. Riley even praised the non guaranteed NFL contracts which was gross, but seeing more of them in the NBA now because it favors owners.
Also made it clear why the Heat wouldn’t have traded for Ja at the deadline for example which I thought was a possibility, teams see that contract as just too much money even with only two years left, and the opportunity cost of not being able to make other moves in 26 or 27 is so high.
Perfectly said. I was about to make a post pretty much saying the same thing, but you captured everything. This current CBA is a mess as far as team building goes. You basically have to luck out and draft a star. Can’t keep winning teams together long. Max players not playing at a Top 20 level have become a detriment to teams (see Morant, Ja). Boston basically had to blow up their championship team (using Tatum’s injury as a catalyst). Clippers unloaded Paul George and Harden. The league will probably do something once OKC has to break up the band because of the 2nd apron.
Will be interesting to see what happens. I asked Bobby Marks if he thought the aprons would change in the next CBA and he said no. But of course he, Riley etc represent the front office/owner perspective. So does much of the media talking nonstop about all the bad contracts and the overpaid players. The aprons are doing their job of limiting salary, meanwhile for the owners the value of NBA franchises continues to skyrocket. The parity era with 7 different champions last 7 years is also probably good financially for gambling companies the league is partnered with, would like to look into that more. To modify the aprons I think it would take a real fight from the players in the next CBA negotiations, and the NBPA hasn’t been very strong in that.
Get your Kool-Aid…ice cold Kool-Aid. As long as Heat fans keep drinking the Kool-Aid, Arison, Arison, Riley & Spoestra have no incentive to stop serving it. Drink up folks. There’s more where that came from.
det lack of offense gonna be there undoing.hey det how do u like your uncan donuts,thanks for nothing for fonzi two nothing players.
ja morant should be a magician next year suggs is awful
If healthy and he returns to former player circa 2022. Otherwise $40M+ for a bunch of dnps. The more I think about it, the more I think Miami should focus on two-way players who play 65-75 games per year, or more.
best dunk ive seen in a long time
always thought he was better than limited highsmith
jumping jack jamal cain wow all time dunc there wow
ja morant jarren jax jr at orlando game first row of course
isiah stewart has very little talent but hes the type player the heat need.
Isiah Stewart and Jalen Green going to lead Miami to the promised land. lol.
Heat would have been probably +5 in wins, pushing 50 wins last year with a Bam/Stewart frontcourt/Stewart at backup 5. All 30 teams need Stewart
duncan hunting season nbc 6
Recap: The Miami Heat are officially changing their names to the Miami HamsterWheels
be nice thats not your nature hhh4l your better than that
Miami Generals has a ring to it.
i like the miami midgets
So…same same? Lots here might not like it but as you always say it is what it is. At least we now know he’s not the final say. And as usual we can just all hope for the best. Or you can ride the bandwagon of those winning teams and just come back when Heat is a legit contender. Go Heat!
Fluff sandwich. Not surprising. The Jovic expectation mind boggling. Lots of delusional comments. Looks like more of the same.
Well, the good news is at least we heard from our GM and got to hear his opinion on several aspects of the state of the Heat. The bad news is that everything he said sounded like more of the same without any indication of any adaptation or changing of approach. I can’t say that anything he said inspired confidence, not to me. It was more like empty bluster, without any supporting reasons for it. I wish I could be more upbeat but it would be being disingenuous. I hope I’m wrong and this offseason will yield moves that will lead us back into the playoffs. And, I will end on the positive thought that the NBA is the one sports league where fortunes can change significantly with just two good moves. So there is always a chance.
I thought it was Shakespearean – Much Ado About Nothing.
changes david bowie
he said their need to be changes hes really never said that before.the way hes dealing lately those changes might be for the worse.miami is a beautiful city no doubt.nostate income tax,only problem team is very mediocre and ss generally dont go to teams where bam is the best player.we had decades of good to great bball.look at the panthers they sukd for decades same as dolphins.sports is cyclical were on the bottom now.gotta accept bad to mediocre bball for next few years dont see this turning around to fast.unless some ss wants to come here or we get lucky and draft a ss
There’s a chance my ex-wife wins the lottery and cuts me in on half of it.
This year instead of we like our team, we got ‘we’re angry’ and then a bunch of nonsense about how we like our team lol.
Riley is washed. He’s been washed since LeBron left. He has no clue how to operate a team in the modern nba.
jimmy years were ok.bam years lol