Heat's most underrated offseason move is one they didn't actually make

The Miami Heat have been one of the league’s biggest winners this offseason.

Coming off four-straight play-in appearances, they have had a busy summer, headlined by acquiring superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Since then, they drafted Ryan Conwell in the second round, re-signed Simone Fontecchio to the veteran minimum, extended Andrew Wiggins (who was entering the last year of his contract) and added Tim Hardaway Jr. at the onset of free agency. The moves were minimal.

Over the last few weeks, Miami has been awaiting LeBron James’ decision, before he chose Philadelphia on Friday. Acquiring Antetokounmpo was the big ticket — adding the NBA’s all-time leading scorer to the mix would have just been a cherry on top.

Alas, while the Heat’s summer has been successful from an immediate ceiling-raising perspective, their most underrated move of the offseason was one they didn’t make.

Heat’s most overlooked move was retaining Pelle Larsson:

In the several weeks leading up to the Antetokounmpo blockbuster, which sent Kel’el Ware, Tyler Herro, Kasparas Jakucionis, Jaime Jaquez Jr. plus draft capital back to Milwaukee, many speculated what their package would have been.

Herro, Ware and Jaquez felt like three guarantees. But many pontificated whether or not the Heat were eventually going to include at least one of Jakucionis, Larsson, Nikola Jovic or Davion Mitchell for the two-time MVP.

Evidently, Jakucionis, their No. 20 draft choice last summer, was the sacrificial lamb. They almost dealt Mitchell in his place, but Jakucionis was the more valuable long-term asset.

But keeping the former second-round pick was still quite important.

Larsson broke out with extra opportunity in his sophomore NBA season, averaging 11.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists on 49.6 percent shooting and 60.5 percent true shooting. The 6-foot-5 guard improved his finishing and ballhandling while being one of the Heat’s best connective passers and point-of-attack defenders.

As I’ve belabored in the past, Larsson is a winning basketball player to a T. His indicators from college (and last year) indicate his best 3-point shooting days are ahead of him. And if that area of his game continues to improve, he’ll be a more important piece to incorporate alongside Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo.

His skillset resembles that of a glue guy on a championship-caliber team — not a rebuilding team that just traded its franchise icon. Miami will have an upcoming decision with his expiring salary, but that is a dilemma that can be dealt with then, not now.