The Miami Heat have a big offseason ahead, but let’s still review what happened this season! To continue with our Miami Heat player review series, we dive into first-year Heat veteran and 2026 All-Star Norman Powell!
Past Player Reviews:
- Bam Adebayo
- Simone Fontecchio
- Myron Gardner
- Tyler Herro
- Kasparas Jakucionis
- Jaime Jaquez Jr.
- Keshad Johnson
- Nikola Jovic
- Pelle Larsson
- Davion Mitchell
Brief Overview:
2025-26 stats (58 games):
- 21.7 PPG
- 2.5 APG
- 3.5 RPG
- 1.1 STLS
- 47.0 FG%
- 38.0 3P%
- 82.7 FT%
Powell’s first campaign in South Beach seemed like a tale of two halves. The first half of the season, Powell’s trade acquisition made it look like another robbery pulled off from Pat Riley and the Heat front office— who traded for Powell in exchange for just Kevin Love and Kyle Anderson last summer— two aging vets that didn’t have consistent roles. Powell opened his Heat tenure by adding an immediate, much needed scoring punch. In fact, his scoring impact was enough to secure his first ever All-Star honors this year, as he was the only player to represent Miami in the event. However, injuries plummeted that production from Powell near the end of the season.
Numbers to note:
17.5 — PPG post All-Star break
Powell dealt with an assortment of different nagging injuries during Miami’s second half end of season push, most notably a lingering groin injury. It must have affected his play on the court, because his near 24-points per game numbers to start the year crashed all the way down to 17.5 post All-Star break. He was demoted to a bench role in favor of Tyler Herro during this time, and never quite played himself back into a starting role ever since.
58 — Total games played
At Riley’s end of season press conference, he made it a point to emphasize how much he will be valuing availability moving forward with his players. That notion doesn’t help Powell’s case, who is an unrestricted free agent this summer, to return to Miami. Powell will be entering his age-33 season and coming off this past 2025-26 campaign with 24 games missed. Not ideal for someone expecting a big pay day within the next few months.
22.2 — PPG as a starter
To start the year, Powell really injected some new bit of offensive life into the Heat’s rotation. Herro was shelved from offseason ankle surgery that kept him out the team’s first 14 games— which gave Powell the green light for some extra touches. His inconsistent first and second halves of the year had him finish with just over 21 points per game. But that figure increases to 22.2 as a starter. If any blockbuster Giannis Antetokounmpo deal gets made, Powell could pose as a strong All-Star caliber shooting option to supplement an Antetokounmpo-centric lineup.
Best Game?
Powell’s best game came in his season-high 38-point performance in an NBA cup seeding matchup against the New York Knicks back in November.
Still riding that honeymoon phase as a new addition to the Heat, the veteran guard scorched the Knicks defense on all three scoring levels. This includes eight 3-point makes on over 50% shooting overall. Miami unfortunately fell short of the upset win on the road, but it was a true “I’m here” outing from Powell early in the season.
What’s next?
Powell was on a very team friendly $20.5 million salary in his first year in Miami. For an All-Star, there was legitimate value in a dollar figure like that. However, he is now eligible for a four-year, $128.5 million extension before June 30. A contract like that could have him exceeding $30 million annually in his later-30’s. This doesn’t seem like the Heat’s front office is going to entertain.
Riley was adamant in wanting to maintain flexibility with his contracts. Committing over $30 million to someone entering the wrong side of his 30’s doesn’t add up to that notion. Still, Powell was a great addition overall and has voiced his desire to stay in South Beach this summer. But this is a business. If an agreement can be reached on something that has Powell’s contract remain closer to that $20 million team friendly salary he was paid this year, that could change Miami’s decision making in regards to bring Powell back into the fold.
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I like Powell. If the Heat can get him for 2-3 years @$25M per year, maybe. If not, no way. Between him and Rozier that’s a payroll reduction of $55M. Add Wiggins (if he opts out) and Fontecchio and you are over $90M. Now if there was just a way of dumping Herro and his $33M salary.
mickey will never tank u let go wig and powell.the guys u replace them with next year and following year will not be as good
Wiggins if he opts out. Powell if he takes $25M a year.
Another topic.
Bucks owner wants to solve Giannis situation soon, either to sign max with him or trade him before summer. This is a good news, the whole summer of that saga would be unbearable.
keeps nba in the news.football is #1 sport in usa
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25420833-how-miami-heat-could-land-giannis-antetokounmpo-blockbuster-trade
Predicts a Giannis trade will happen by June 23/the draft, because Milwaukee does not want to go into this season with Giannis as an expiring contract
Yes, that was confirmed by owners. They will try to solve this till draft.
MIL just waiting to see if Miami or another interested team moves up to the top 4 in draft lottery. And the odds are no one does. ATL 29%, GSW 9.4%, MIA 4.8% OKC is more likely to move into top 4 than Miami
One of the greatest shooters ever seen in the league. Still, the second half was bad.
Those type of players (shooters with not much else) are just not as valuable as they were.
The same problem is with Herro.
We need to star over. Both have to go. Preferably with some gains for the team.
NBA is like other areas, has trends and fashions that change based on who are the leading players, teams of the moment. OKC winning the title with the #1 defense has put defense and two-way players first in the conversation now. Two way players are always preferable, determine winning and the all time greats etc, but few teams in the league can realistically say they are built with all two way players, maybe OKC and SAS are the exceptions.
NYK is built around two bad defenders at the 1 and 5, Brunson and KAT. They have OG and Bridges to cover for them and were still the #7 defense this year.
DEN same construction with Murray and Jokic, but Denver was a terrible defense this year, #21, in large part because Aaron Gordon was not healthy.
DET with the #2 defense has Duncan Robinson as their second highest in minutes played. He’s one of their most important players because of how he spaces the floor. Also an underrated player overall. Gets hunted on defense because he’s their worst defensive player, but the team covers for him. (Also not as bad on defense as he is labeled)
GSW had the best defense in the league a decade ago with Curry, not a good defender.
In looking at Heat’s roster construction, it’s tempting to say get rid of all the bad defenders, replace them with all two way players, but it isn’t possible and not how teams are built. What Powell and Herro add on offense is extremely valuable and leads to winning. Teams can cover for them on defense with the right lineup combinations. That didn’t happen this year – the team never became more than the sum of its parts. But that imo doesnt mean you trade the parts at lowest value so another team can benefit.
That makes a lot of sense, but the question about team direction persists.
The fact is, that the team with Herro and Bam as leaders isn’t going anywhere. Among those two Bam is by far more valuable player. Powell is a good player, but most of his production can be replaced by younger and much cheaper players within the team or/and much cheaper additional player.
So, both will be traded. They know, we know, everybody else knows. The price will not be high.
If Powell and Herro are on a list of only around 20 or so players in the entire NBA with a shooting/scoring efficiency of 56% EFG or higher, while averaging >20 ppg, then by definition they are hard to replace and a team will almost certainly be getting worse on offense losing them.
Herro and Bam are both perpetually underrated, been holding that opinion and sticking to it now, no reason to change it based on Herro’s injuries this past year. And Bam just had one of his best seasons. Herro imo is underrated because people focus on his defense and ignore what he can do as a scorer and facilitator, Bam because he does not fit some fan ideal of what a star player is.
Better question to ask with Bam is how many centers in the NBA can do what he does – average 20/10 with All-Defense. Of two way 5s, it’s really just Wemby who is better and has a higher ceiling. Maybe Chet would get 20/10 on a worse team than OKC. Zubac, but his best year was 17/13. Duren, but his defense is not at that DPOY level. Siakam, if you expand the list to include 4’s. But very few bigs in the entire NBA can do what Bam can do.
Think a trade that makee sense is Herro as part of a Giannis trade, and then resign Powell. Otherwise if no trade for a better, All-NBA talent, just keep Herro if both sides are willing to agree on a number.
Good call on Powell being a great shooter, for some reason he doesn’t get that recognition. My guess is because he can also drive/slash and he is a late bloomer in NBA career terms
Been posting here on how Herro and Powell’s scoring efficiency is a rare skill.
List of players who averaged >20 ppg with 3FG >40% in the last two seasons:
Jokic
Durant (2x)
Jamal Murray
KAT
Zach LaVine
Powell
Darius Garland
List of All-Stars, All-NBA and an MVP
*two MVPs
Mixed list, if you ask me. Durant, KAT, LaVine and Garland are players better to avoid.