The 2026 offseason has arrived — now what?

Another Miami Heat season is officially in the books, as they lost in heartbreaking fashion to the Charlotte Hornets in the 9-10 play-in game on Tuesday.

It’s time for our annual offseason column, where I ask and answer a few of my own questions! Let’s dive into it!

1.) Which Heat players are still under contract?

The Heat will have 12 players on their books next season:

• Bam Adebayo — $49.5M
• Tyler Herro — $33M
• Andrew Wiggins — $30.2M (player option)
• Nikola Jovic — $16.2M
• Davion Mitchell — $12.4M
• Kel’el Ware — $4.6M
• Jaime Jaquez Jr. — $5.9M;
• Kasparas Jakucionis — $3.8
• Pelle Larsson — $2.3M; team option
• Dru Smith — $2.6M
• Myron Gardner — $2.6M
• Jahmir Young — $2.4M; team option

2.) Who are their free agents?

The Heat will have three free agents this summer: Norman Powell, coming off his first career All-Star game, Simone Fontecchio and Keshad Johnson.

Powell gave the Heat a much-needed shot in the arm offensively at the start of the season. But he completely fell off a cliff relative to where he was defensively in Los Angeles, and battled a number of ailments. Fontecchio, acquired in the Duncan Robinson sign-and-trade, had an up-and-down season. He ultimately averaged 8.5 points and 3.0 rebounds on 37.5 percent shooting from deep, including 45.2 percent on 3.6 attempts post-All-Star break.

Johnson still didn’t crack the rotation in his second season. He was the “break glass in case of emergency” small-ball 5. Though he showed glimpses in a limited sample. In the four games where he played at least 20-plus minutes, Johnson averaged 12.8 points and 6.0 rebounds on 60.0 percent true shooting, totaling eight steals and three blocks as well.

The Heat can re-sign each of those three players before the start of free agency, which begins June 30. Andrew Wiggins can opt out of his aforementioned player option and become a free agent.

Miami can also trim additional salary and create an extra $7.6 million by waiving Dru Smith, Myron Gardner and Jahmir Young, whose contracts are non-guaranteed.

3.) What does the Heat’s cap situation look like?

Entering 2026-27, the Heat, who will have 12 players on their books, could have north of $30 million in cap space (excluding current cap holds). But until those aforementioned cap holds settle themselves, they still have $229 million on its books, according to Spotrac. Regardless, they are projected to be $40.9 million below the first apron, $53.9 million below the second apron and $35.4 million below the luxury tax.

4.) Who is extension-eligible?

As we touched on above, technically, Powell and Fontecchio are extension-eligible up until the new league year. Although the Heat will have three players who officially become extension eligible: Wiggins, Larsson and Jaquez.

We will do a separate piece on whether the Heat should give them extensions at a later date, but it’s worth noting that Wiggins will be eligible to sign a four-year, $177 million extension, starting at roughly $39.5 million, roughly 24 percent of next year’s cap. Larsson and Jaquez can sign rookie extensions up to the max, although it’s obvious that neither will actually receive the rookie max.

5.) What does the Heat’s current draft situation look like?

For the second time in three seasons, the Miami Heat will own two draft picks. They own their first-rounder, while a second-rounder was gifted to them by the league as a result of the Terry Rozier debacle.

The Heat’s first-round pick can fall anywhere between Nos. 12-14 — which is still to be determined from the play-in — while their second-rounder (Golden State’s) will be 41.

6.) Speaking of the draft, how did Kasparas Jakucionis play this season?

Even though he didn’t crack the rotation at the start of the season, it was a very encouraging season from Jakucionis. Sure, I would’ve liked for him to earn a little more leash. But grew throughout the season and showcased himself to be one of the Heat’s better point-of-attack defenders from Day 1. Moreover, he silenced any naysayers regarding his 3-point shooting, which wasn’t very good as a freshman at Illinois because of his 1.) on-ball burden and 2.) arm injury. Jakucionis shot 42.3 percent from deep on 2.9 attempts, including 48.1 percent on catch-and-shoot tries.

7.) What will Jakucionis need to improve?

It’s quite apparent that Jakucionis is still very raw in some areas. That’s OK because that’s typically the norm with young players. He’ll need to continue to improve his foot speed — which was the case coming out of Illinois — as well as his ball-handling and finishing around the rim. Jakucionis shot just 53.1 percent at the rim, north of five percentage points lower than any other Heat player (min. 25 rim FGA).

8.) What do the Heat’s other young players (still) need to improve?

Like last year, I’ll expand on this in a later article. But here’s one thing that each player should improve (minus Jakucionis), for now:

• Myron Gardner: Hand placement on defense
• Vlad Goldin: Foot speed
• Jaime Jaquez Jr.: 3-point shooting
• Keshad Johnson: 3-point shooting
• Nikola Jovic: Shooting mechanics
• Trevor Keels: Finishing
• Pelle Larsson: 3-point shooting consistency
• Kel’el Ware: Body positioning defensively
• Jahmir Young: Shooting consistency

9.) So, Giannis Antetokounmpo, huh?

Ah, yes, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

There will be no individual with bigger buzz than the Bucks’ two-time MVP, who wasn’t dealt at the deadline despite the Heat’s interest being well known, this summer. In February, they almost pulled it off, though it wasn’t enough to convince the Bucks’ brazz to part ways with arguably the greatest player in their franchise’s history, despite his passive-aggressive comments.

As long as Antetokounmpo is even the slightest bit available, we know the Heat will be interested. For what price has yet to be determined. However, is star hunting again worth the public shame when they inevitably don’t land the player?! Even though they need a star, I don’t think so.

With Rozier and Powell’s money now off the books, money matching for, say, Antetokounmpo, becomes that much harder than it was in February. Should Wiggins opt out, the climb becomes mountainous.

At the very least, Miami will have its 2033 first-round pick it can trade, as well as its 2026 first, wherever that lands, that it can move only on draft night. That creates a hypothetical scenario of three first-round picks, plus a combination of Tyler Herro’s expiring, Ware, Jaquez, Jovic, etc.

Once again, I say: Pursuing a superstar talent makes sense, but at this stage, is it worth it for the Heat when we know his market will be bigger (thus increasing the asking price)?

10.) How can Heat avoid play-in for fourth-straight year?

There are two angles: Land a superstar talent, like Antetokounmpo, or lean into your youth and build from the ground up. The league’s three-best teams landed franchise-changing talents either after their rookie year (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) or through the draft entirely (Victor Wembanyama, Cade Cunningham) while supplementing them with cost-controlled contracts.

Miami, still directionless, needs to pick one. We know it’s going to be the former, but it risks remaining complacent with its current core, which we know isn’t good enough to get over the hump.

11.) Will there be any substantial change?!

At this point, it’s pretty apparent that Miami will live and die by their 10 commandments; it’s their organizational manifesto that they will swear by until the fat lady sings. I think it’s completely understandable if you have the mindset of “I won’t believe it until I see it,” because of the organization’s stubbornness. The front office doesn’t know how to asset manage, nor have they been able to recognize what is working, and what’s not. How is that expected to change when the same story’s been written with different chapters?!

12.) How would you grade each Heat player, and their season entirely?

Let’s start with the players, graded relative to expectations (min. 100 MIN):

• Bam Adebayo: A-
• Simone Fontecchio: C+
• Myron Gardner: C-
• Tyler Herro: D
• Kasparas Jakucionis: B
• Jaime Jaquez Jr.: A-
• Keshad Johnson: C
• Nikola Jovic: F
• Norman Powell: B
• Pelle Larsson: B+
• Davion Mitchell: B+
• Dru Smith: D+
• Kel’el Ware: B-
• Andrew Wiggins: B+

These are completely off the gun. I reserve my right to change them a letter grade or two when I explain in a later piece.

How about the season entirely? D+ or a C-. It was unpleasant!

Who are names to look forward to in the draft?:

Barring moving up in the lottery, here are a few names to keep an eye on in no specific order:

First Round:

• Brayden Burries
• Labaron Philon
• Yaxe Lendeborg
• Thomas Haugh
• Chris Cenac Jr.
• Cam Carr
• Tounde Yessoufou
• Koa Peat
• Mikel Brown Jr.
• Nate Ament
• Karim Lopez (international)
• Morez Johnson Jr.

Second Round:

• Amari Allen
• Mo Krivas
• Alex Karaban
• Tarris Reed Jr.
• Zuby Ejiofor
• Dailyn Swain
• Rueben Chinyelu
• Alex Condon
• Emanuel Sharp
• Trevon Brazile
• Aday Mara
• Jaden Bradley

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