Giannis Antetokounmpo is finally a member of the Miami Heat. But what if the Heat front office still has another superstar acquisition up their sleeve to double down on their new title window?
Perhaps it’s a little greedy to even think about creating another “Big 3”. But there is one unrestricted free agent that could be the biggest game changer of the entire open market for a contender this summer in LeBron James.
As a free agent for the first time since 2018, James at 41 years old is still a top-10 caliber player in the league. He is coming off a 2025-26 season averaging 20.9 points, 7.2 assists, 6.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals on 52% shooting. He struggled to shoot the ball well from 3-point range at only 31.7%, but remains an elite playmaker and scorer. The expectation is that James likely still has at least 1-2 more seasons in him before retirement.
It’s still uncertain on what will happen with him and the LA Lakers this summer.
However, according to Heat insider Barry Jackson, Miami could try to “lure” James in free agency to take his talents back to South Beach:
“The Heat could try to lure impending free agent LeBron James with its full midlevel exception, but a James return is considered a long shot — though nothing can be ruled out.”
— Barry Jackson
LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo all on the same team?
A lot of things would need to align to really entertain this idea, thus validating Jackson describing a Heat acquisition of James a “long shot”. For starters, things would need to go south in negotiations between him and the Lakers this offseason.
However, a Miami reunion still provides a terrific basketball fit to not think about. A James-Antetokounmpo-Bam Adebayo trio under a coach like Erik Spoelstra would be enough to instantly be considered not just contenders, but perhaps the favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference.
It would be a storybook ending to return to the place he became an NBA Champion for one last chapter and capture a fifth ring added to his legacy. On the court, James is the dream playmaker to have to create easy looks for an Antetokounmpo-Adebayo frontcourt combination. He wouldn’t need to carry much of a regular scoring load, but instead just be the orchestrator to the offense.
Money wise, there’s no state income tax playing for the Heat in South Florida. A $15 million mid-level offer would be worth roughly $5 million more in Miami than if he were to settle on taking that with the Lakers.
It may be a dream scenario, but it’s also an idea that has been floated around by several national media voices already. And as the great Pat Riley iterated a few years back, he would leave a “shiny new key under the matt” for LeBron to come back to the Heat.
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love to have the goat maybe wade also,we might need a 2g.would u take wade now or pelle?
Yes, it can be ruled out. 🙂
lebrons last team to come to is any team with riley