Rightfully, for many franchises across the NBA, this Mother’s Day weekend will be filled with plenty of excitement, with the 2026 draft lottery on Sunday at 3 p.m. EST. There will also be a lot of angst.
For the Miami Heat, they have the 13th-best odds, meaning they have less than a five percent chance at securing a top-4 pick and a one percent chance at netting the No. 1 overall pick, which will presumably be AJ Dybantsa.
Miami needs luck — and a lot of it — to dig itself out of the play-in. It’s bereft of franchise-changing talent outside of Bam Adebayo.
Thankfully, the draft, the primary fuel for modern-day champions, is a helpful supplier for that. But so is Giannis Antetokounmpo, a two-time MVP who will presumably be available for trade this summer. And if there’s any certainty in life, it’s that the Miami Heat will do anything and everything to pry him away from Milwaukee.
That begs the question: if the Heat landed in the top-4, would you trade the pick for Giannis Antetokounmpo?
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Hanifan’s Take: This question was inspired by the Dan Le Batard Show; I can’t take any credit, let alone full credit.
But part of that is because the last possible thing I’d think about, if I were the Heat and I secured a top-4 pick, is Giannis Antetokounmpo. He’s a top-5 player on the planet when he’s healthy, but a top-4 pick would grant the Heat a franchise-changing talent at a cost-controlled price.
That’s not an indictment on Antetokounmpo himself, but Miami is more than just a Giannis away from legitimate contention. And the most palatable way to kickstart a new post-Jimmy era is through the draft, specifically with a top-5 pick, where the majority of All-NBA talent is found.
So, no, I would not trade it for the two-time MVP, as special as his resume is. The two, in a vacuum, have similar value, although the Heat would still need to match salary with at least one of Tyler Herro or Andrew Wiggins, plus Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., and more. At the end of the day, the package for Antetokounmpo with a top-4 pick would be less than the inverse — but it’d still be costly.
Lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention that I am slightly concerned with his calf injury; any calf injury nowadays raises an eyebrow, especially since Antetokounmpo will be entering his age-32 season and will be extension eligible this summer.
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Yes trade all the draft picks including nikola jovic simone fontecchio
Bam and the top 4 pick
Well, getting Giannis makes Heat a top 10 team in the league instantly, but not a title contender. The path in that case is clear. Building the team around him and Bam by getting good vets for our young players and try to win it all in next 2-3 years.
By keeping pick and get a player to build around, the logic should be the opposite, trade older players, including Bam, to fit the new timeline.
There is a lot of hype about this draft. Sure, there is a good chance to get a lot of good players out of this draft, even all star level players. But I haven’t seen superstar talent in this draft.
I m leaning towards keeping the pick. It wont be pretty at times, but it would be fan to watch. I like young players.
Let’s say it did happen. Bucks would be asking for it. Tyler+Ware+pick. NO for me but id take a second look if its Tyler+Wiggs+pick…plus maybe Niko and/or Jakucionis. Imagine a front line of Ware, Giannis, Bam! Lol if Spo would do that. Or if it is workable.
Throw in Jaquez, Larsson and 2 more picks and you have a deal. Hope the Greek doesn’t get hurt.
the miami midgets never throw that lineup out.i really rather not give up ware either manila.id rather give up bam between the two.u look at wemby the back of your mind your thinking we got a guy a few inches smaller but built the exact same way and at times has flashed wembyisms.but as homer has pointed out bam and pat are attached at the hip .pats got a delusion about bam.he was a 60s guy.
Hell no!
Miami would be putting all its eggs in one basket, while depleting the team’s assets and setting the Heat’s player development process back for years. Even with Giannis, Miami will not have the necessary pieces to compete for a championship. All it will do is satisfy Riley’s desperate attempt to remain relevant.
With this year’s lottery pick and another one next year, plus a 2026 second round pick, plus salary savings and/or assets acquired by ridding the team of Rozier, Powell, Wiggins, Fontecchio (all 30+), Herro and possibly others, Miami would have a good foundation of young players and a large warchest (cash plus potentially additional draft picks) to build a contending team for the future.
This is a time for strategic thinking and patience. It is not the time for desperation and impulsive decisions the team may regret for years to come.
We have such a different view of this than most people here. If you added a top 4 pick to this team, plus a good second round pick, and some strategic signings, they could be competitive for years to come and at a much lower initial cost.
It gives the youngsters playing time to develop. If Heat should miss the playoffs again next year it would get another lottery pick. That doesn’t include any young players and picks acquired in trades. Summer 2027 could be the beginning of something very special…without selling the ranch. Pie in the sky trades for ss players seldom result in championships.
repeat u go no where w/o a ss .u get an ant wemby sga brunson cade u can challenge.pelles jacos jjjs nikos ware(so far) get u jack sht.stop with this building bs,heat got good when they drafted ss wade acquired lebron bosh jimmy.chances of getting a ss thru the draft minimal.getting a good player maybe.good players dont win jack .u need a ss.
u watch the spurs youngens okcs youngens minn young vets where do our foundational youngens match up to these dudes.they dont diff level except maybe ware.the only shot i see to meet homer on bisc blvd in the next 5 years is if ware becomes wemby east.every team has jjj pelle jacos on their roster.remember these are the top players on planet earth.they all are talented.for whatever reason pat is focusing on to much vanilla ice cream.besides big kornet there wasnt one white dude last night that hit the cts hmmmm.
You act as though Miami can go out there and just buy a contending team. It can’t. Wishing for a ss to drop out of the sky ain’t gonna happen either. Hope in one hand and sh*t in the other.
Having 1 or even 2 ss on a team doesn’t assure you of jacksh*t. How many rings has KD brought teams since he left GS? Donovan Mitchell? Brunson? Gianniis with current Bucks roster? Doncic? Embiid? Kahwi since he left Toronto?
How exactly do you propose for Miami to build a championship team? Please outline your proposal(s) and make it/them realistic and attainable.
first off only one team is happy at end of year with a ss u have a shot at least to wear jewelry w.o zero chance u get a ss greek kawhi hopefully both then u get an all star type player ,then u get a bunch of dawgs that can defend and get u some buckets,obviousley donovan not good enough at playoff time cleve never goes anywhere.s. donovan is not a ss he would be the all star type with a ss .brunson is a ss kat is all star now the knicks have more depth shamet clarkson alvarado to go with annonoby bridges.cade ss duren all star with dawgs .in conclusion u can have jjjs pelles on the team as a #7 8 type player but u need greek or kawhi and all star and 3 or 4 dwags with them.a ss needs some help.if we get a ss everything will fall into place.other guys will play better.just get a fn ss jjj pelle will be fine as 7s and 8s they both can guard ok
I have never painted Pelle, Jaquez, Davion, or others players as ss types. They are the blue collar guys every team needs to be successful. SS players must be drafted or traded for, since very few are acquired as free agents. Nowadays, sign & trade agreements are much more common.
What/who exactly are you proposing Miami trade to acquire a ss? Which ss will that get you. You can bitch all you want about what you think it takes to be a contender, but I haven’t heard one solid proposal from you yet on how to acquire such players. Trading Bam makes absolutely no sense. Who do you propose to replace his defense, plus provide ss level offense?
Wishful thinking does not a champion make. Miami has to build up its supporting cast and accumulate draft picks in order to be in a position to obtain a ss. If they need to be a lottery team 2 seasons in a row to begin that process, so be it. That’s what RC, others and I have been pushing for. Miami needs to walk before it can run. Right now, the Heat is running on a treadmill that is going in reverse.
We are all frustrated and disappointed in what the Arisons and Riley have done with the team. As I’ve suggested more than once, maybe its time for all of them to cash out and allow more progressive owners/management an opportunity to bring the team into the 21st century. Until that happens, all we can do is kick ideas around amongst ourselves and hope that one day, someone in the Heat front office is listening.
You have said many times how you only want two way players, yet you call Brunson a ss even though he is a one way player. I don’t disagree, Luka is a ss too. I will give you this – if you have a ss, other players will be willing to sign at a discount for a chance for a ring.
brunson and luka are so good offensivley they can get a pass on d to an extent.brunson d looks pretty good in phily series.hes def been better than maxey..lukas improved his d hes a big boy..u can have 15 good players wont get u sht.how u get a ss of course u can try to draft one i believe the greatest chance is to get a disgruntled ss in sign and trade.u trade bam tyler pelle or picks keep wig norm ware jjj dav kj jaco now u still need some more geta ja damar who can be had fairly easily we are in biz..once knicks got jalen brunson everything started trade randle for kat acquire og bridges alvarado clarkson shamet none of these guys were drafted by nyk.draft is harder to find a ss i believe.patsa sleep at the wheel.
The problem is that hfl understands talent, and the importance of talent, but he is not interested in the nuances of the salary cap and aprons. He has a perfect right to have no interest in that mundane side of the business. But the reality is that you can’t add talent, make trades, sign free agents if you don’t know how it fits under the CBA and the egregious penalties you can incur by going outside the parameters. It has nothing to do with the overall wealth of the owner. Rules are in place to allow smaller market teams to have a chance to compete with the New Yorks and LAs of the world.
that is true rc.just have a fn slaray cap and call it a day like football bird rights aprons f that sht .bam is not a 50 mil player that is a major problem,if bam is 50 wemby 150.bam cant be your best player and paid 50 mil.if pr is 150 mil bam should be 30..greek is a max player not bam pat.if everything is fair.worse select the best thats what the draft was meant to be not these stupid ping pong balls.ridiculous luck of the draw determines teams fate thats bs.nba needs to fix that ping pong ball luck of the draw
It’s not whether I disagree or agree. It’s like what people say about the law – it’s the only system we have at the moment, so we have to work within the parameters. Until they change it, not much any team can do but to abide by the current rules in place.