These 2 former All-Stars remain free agent options linked to Heat

The Miami Heat are approaching the dog days of summer, where there isn’t much news to discuss. All of the best free agents and trade moves have already been made.

The problem? Miami still has at least two open standard roster spots that they are required to fill, and one open two-way roster spot.

There’s currently 12 standard slots filled, and although the Heat have opted to not utilize all 15 spots over recent years— in the event they sign a free agent or add a buyout pickup midseason— they indeed need to have 14 players at the minimum before training camp begins in September.

After teams, including Miami, struck out on LeBron James, the remainder of the free agent market was expected to start picking up steam. However, that hasn’t been the case. There’s some real talent still out there looking for new teams, most notably headlined by James Harden, Jalen Duren, Jonathan Kuminga, Peyton Watson, DeMar DeRozan, Russell Westbrook, Bradley Beal, Nick Richards and more.

For the Heat, it may not be any new news, but the two free agents that they have still been keeping tabs on is Beal and DeRozan, per the Miami Herald.

The Heat have been in touch with the representatives for both DeMar DeRozan and Bradley Beal

per @Anthony_Chiang pic.twitter.com/cTuqwYIXr7
— Hot Hot Hoops (@hothothoops) August 5, 2026

Bradley Beal is the perfect example of a low-risk, high reward addition

Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald recently iterated that the Heat have been in contact with Beal’s representatives over recent weeks. Beal opted out of his contract with the LA Clippers earlier this offseason and remains a veteran minimum option on the open market.

There is a pretty shaky injury history involved with the Beal, including the previous 2025-26 campaign having the former three-time All-Star appear in just six games before suffering a season-ending injury. Additionally, Beal hasn’t appeared in at least 60 games since the 2020-21 season.

In the 2024-25 campaign with the Phoenix Suns, the guard averaged 17 points on 50% shooting and 39% from 3-point range. Those numbers, even in a limited role, would help fill a roster need for the Heat if they are willing to take on the injury risk at a veteran minimum price tag.

DeMar DeRozan is the best free agent player still available

DeRozan is a different type of target for Miami. This is someone that has been available and a consistent scoring/playmaking threat for years now.

Although DeRozan doesn’t bring the outside shooting ability of Beal’s— he is the most accomplished and strongest player left available— coming off a season averaging 18.4 points on 50% shooting across 77 games played. There’s no question marks with DeRozan’a game, but there is a question mark on his fit with this Heat team as a non-shooter around Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo.

Regardless, Miami is need of playmaking just as much as they need that shooting. DeRozan brings experienced playmaking and shot creation into the fold. He has been linked heavily to the Heat for weeks now, according to several sources.

What about Klay Thompson?

It’s been reported that Dallas Mavericks’ sharpshooter Klay Thompson has been the Heat’s “top priority” target. But what makes that tricky, unlike DeRozan and Beal, is that Thompson is still under contract. Any avenue to get him to Miami would need to come with the help of Dallas— whether via trade or a buyout.

There hasn’t been much traction at all on Thompson securing that buyout. Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report did recently state a trade is something Dallas would prefer, adding that “there’s definitely been some type of buzz, framework, whatever about a Klay Thompson for Nikola Jovic thing for weeks.”

But at some point, if those talks continue to go nowhere, the Heat will have to move on. The longer they hold out in hopes of adding Thompson only risks other targets like DeRozan and Beal going elsewhere.