The Miami Heat finally captured their whale Monday night, acquiring Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks in a six-player blockbuster.
While these rumors persisted for weeks (and even months) after Miami couldn’t score a trade at the deadline, the Heat’s work is only just beginning. The draft begins Tuesday (Heat have No. 41 pick) and free agency begins next week. Antetokounmpo makes life a whole lot easier for Bam Adebayo and Co. But there are still plenty of holes they must plug.
What do the Miami Heat have left?:
The biggest — and most consequential domino — is Andrew Wiggins’ $30.2 million player option, which must either be exercised or declined by June 29. If he exercises it, he’ll be playing 2026-27 on an expiring contract — pending an extension — and will be tradable.
If he declines it, he’d enter unrestricted free agency, where he would be able to re-sign for any amount worth up to the max. But his salary would no longer be movable — unless his next team was willing to negotiate a sign-and-trade.
Miami also must navigate Norman Powell’s unrestricted free agency. While the 32-year-old struggled down the stretch last season (in part due to injury), the one-time All-Star will add much-needed shooting and floor spacing to the mix.
After that, they’ll have Davion Mitchell, Bobby Portis (who they just acquired), Pelle Larsson, Dru Smith, Nikola Jovic (whose value is at his lowest) and Myron Gardner, among others.
That’s a steep drop-off in depth — at every single position, too. On paper, they have nowhere near enough shooting, playmaking or shot creation to surround Antetokounmpo. And that’s a big issue.
Heat will have few avenues to add:
The worst is the number of avenues the Heat will have to remain after.
Miami will be hard-capped under the $209 million first apron. They won’t be able to exceed that number under any circumstance in 2026-27. Assuming Wiggins declines and re-signs with a first-year salary of $25 million, and Powell re-signs with a first-year salary of $20 million, Giannis, Bam, Wiggins and Powell will be on the hook for $153 million combined. Factor in Jovic, Portis and Mitchell — and the Heat are north of $196.1 million.
They wisely used most of their $16.8 million trade exception to absorb Portis without sacrificing Jovic or Mitchell. But in this scenario, they would not have access to their full mid-level exception ($15.0M), and it would be difficult to use both of their bi-annual ($5.5M) exception as well as their $5.6 million TPE (via Haywood Highsmith). And they’re likely not going to trade any they retain — unless they’re receiving multiple complementary pieces in return.
There are several shooters they could target for the minimum. But Miami’s guard play must also be addressed; it doesn’t have a natural playmaker behind Davion Mitchell, nor do they have any sort of table setter to organize the offense. Antetokounmpo eats a bulk of the usage, but if Powell, Bam or Wiggins is your second-best shot creator, you’re not in a great place offensively.
Defensively, Miami has a unit that will bully teams. On some nights, their best offense will be their defense. This is a top-5 unit with Mitchell, Antetokounmpo and Adebayo at the head of the snake. But the Heat will need multiple interchangeable, two-way shot creators and floor spacers. And achieving that task will be far easier said than done, especially with limited resources.
The most difficult part of forming a contender was securing a 1A talent. They have that in Antetokounmpo; they haven’t had that since Wade and LeBron. Check. But what happens after is just as important, especially since this Heat front office has never built a true title contender in the two-apron economy, a more punitive environment than its predecessors.
***
To check out our other content, click here.
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Twitter/X here!
Follow Hot Hot Hoops on Instagram here!
Check out Hot Hot Hoops on Facebook here!
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here!
- Hanifan: What Heat do next after poaching Giannis Antetokounmpo is just as important
- NBA Trade Grades: Heat finally capture their whale, land Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Bucks trade Giannis Antetokounmpo to Heat in blockbuster
- Why Heat’s ‘last push’ for Giannis Antetokounmpo may not be enough
- Could Miami Heat have reunion with their greatest shooter ever?
- Miami Heat to host draft party on June 23
- Bucks are reportedly acting as if they will have Heat’s pick in draft
chris middleton on a vet minimum
Heat…team of dogs. Mitchell, Bam, Freak, Larsson, Portis, Gardner followed by Wiggs & Norm with the exception of marshmellow Jovic.
Come on LeBron…all aboard!
It would be insane but not sure he would come here to come off the bench or a minimum. So the one avenue I saw this work is trading Wiggins, which I probably wouldn’t want to do for this version of Lebron. Now on a vet minimum, head on down! lol
I don’t think we are that short on things if we do resign Powell and Wiggins. Dru and Gardner will complement adequately. Maybe Jovic will be able to contribute. And maybe even Goldin will help too. The future is very bright. Maybe another complementary forward type would help. But, we are close already. And having Norm or Bam as number two or three options is pretty solid, not really a deficit.
They will absolutely target a shooting specialist with that 2nd round pick unless some playmaking guard lands in their lap.
They will also be able to get a shooter at vet minimum. I’m hoping for a Hardaway circle of culture to happen. He would be a solid vet off the bench.
Would Malik Beasley be too much of a head case to pick up ? Probably so…with the lingering Rozier memories.
If Sacto buys him out, DeRozan might be open to signing on for the vet minimum. He would be good coming off the bench. He’s still a clutch player at crunch time.
hes a cali guy like u