The Greek Freak era has arrived in Miami.
Late on Monday night, the Heat traded three first-round picks, Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kasparas Jakučionis to the Bucks for two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and stretch big Bobby Portis. It’s the culmination of years of preparation by team president Pat Riley to ensure Miami was ready to pounce if a superstar talent of this caliber ever hit the trade market. Reports in the days leading up to the blockbuster suggested it was no sure thing Antetokounmpo would end up in South Beach, but Riley got the job done and beat out the rival Celtics in the process.
It’s a massive win for the Heat. Of course it is! True superstar talents like Giannis are rarely available and the cost to land him was justifiable, even if it was high. Moreover, in terms of Miami’s situation specifically, this was a godsend of an opportunity. The Heat haven’t been able to find a direction since trading Jimmy Butler and seemed locked in play-in tournament territory for as long as Bam Adebayo was their best player. It was going to take a big-time trade or a huge stroke of luck to raise their ceiling back to genuine championship contention. Antetokounmpo provided both by forcing his way out of Milwaukee and making it clear Miami was one of the few places he’d sign long-term with.
Now the East has a new power down in South Beach. A roster built around Antetokounmpo and Adebayo is automatically elite defensively. They should absolutely own the paint and make life utterly miserable for any and all opponents driving to the hoop. Paired with elite point-of-attack defense from veteran PG Davion Mitchell and it feels safe to presume the Heat have a ready-made top-10 defense before stepping foot on the court.
Offensively... the fit is less clean. Antetokounmpo is a machine who will rack up huge numbers in any environment but he and Adebayo operate in the same areas on that end of the floor. They’ll need spacing around them to thrive and Miami gave up three of the roster’s best shooters to bring Antetokounmpo to town. The defense will be such a strength that a cramped floor may not matter against most opponents, and coach Erik Spoelstra has a tremendous track record schematically; he can make this work to an extent.
But the Heat brought Giannis to town to compete for championships and on paper right now, the offense is not championship-caliber. Not with the question marks Miami still faces with the offseason about to officially kick off with the draft. There are still decisions that have to be made by the front office and what they choose to do will have big-time ramifications on what the roster around Giannis and Bam is going to look like.
There are a number of small moves the Heat will be making between now and the start of the season that will impact the final roster. They own the No. 41 pick in the second round of the draft and a scouting deparment famous for unearthing NBA contributors among the undrafted free agent crowd will be hard at work. But the most impactful decisions Miami’s front office has to make surrounds the future of three players already on the roster.
Let’s break down those decisions and the potential paths the Heat can choose.
Norman Powell’s upcoming free agency
Powell was the Heat’s big offseason acquisition this time last year and would be a wonderful fit with the new Antetokounmpo-Adebayo core as an All-Star perimeter creator who scored over 20 points per game last year while shooting 38% from deep on high volume. But he is about to hit unrestricted free agency and will be looking for a payday given he’s a 33-year-old guard and something of a late bloomer in the NBA. Furthermore, the end of his first season in Miami was not positive at all; his play took a nosedive down the stretch of the season as he battled injuries and ultimately lost his starting spot to Herro. It wouldn’t be a surprise if it left something of a bad taste in everybody’s mouth. However, he is by far the best perimeter scorer left after the Giannis trade and the Heat have Powell’s bird rights, which allows them to offer more money than other teams.
Miami doesn’t have a ton of room to manuever. The team is hard-capped at the first apron with about $19 million to work with in cap space without making any other moves as it stands. That isn’t a lot of money if keeping Powell is a priority, but the franchise also can’t afford to spend every dollar of the available cap space on him alone; they only have 10 players under contract right now. Thus, the Heat have to figure out how badly they need Powell to open up the floor and at what price point they’d be willing to meet him at.
What to do with Andrew Wiggins
Wiggins has been quietly productive as a two-way wing in Miami since he was traded there as part of the Butler deal. Now he figures to be extremely important as the connective wing piece of the new starting five with his solid defense and 40% three-point shooting. The Heat will be thrilled to have him alongside their new star pairing—but Wiggins has a player option for next season worth $30 million.
It doesn’t seem likely the veteran wing will opt out and seek a new team in free agency. His skillset is valuable but the chances of him finding a deal worth $30 million or more annually is pretty slim, so if maximizing his immediate value is the priority then accepting his option is the move. Miami, however, has an opportunity to get creative in that case. If the front office could convince Wiggins to opt out and sign a new deal at a lower dollar amount but with more guaranteed years, it could carve out some much-needed cap space. That scenario would give Miami more wiggle room to deal with Powell and find other on-the-margin opportunities this offseason. If Wiggins doesn’t have interest in that path then the Heat have to make sure he picks up his option because if he leaves it’ll be mighty hard to replace him.
Either way, Wiggins’s decision is a swing point this offseason for Miami.
Whether to trade Nikola Jović
Looking at the Heat roster in the aftermath of the Antetokounmpo trade, one name sticks out as a possible trade candidate if Miami wanted to add another proven NBA player to the roster: Nikola Jović. The fourth-year forward is 23 years old and hasn’t shown much at this level in terms of production; he averaged 7.3 points in 17.2 minutes per game with terrible shooting numbers. But the Heat believed in him enough to give him a four-year extension worth $62 million last fall, which means Jović’s salary entering this offseason is a very tradable $16.2 million. Theoretically he could be a helpful member of this roster; he shot 37% from three on respectable volume back in ‘24–‘25, which inspires some hope he could do a decent stretch big impression.
But it’s hard to see Jović developing quickly enough to be considered a reliable rotation player for a championship hopeful. The Heat would therefore be wise to look into trading him. His career thus far wouldn’t inspire a huge return and Miami is obviously devoid of any major assets after landing Antetokounmpo. But Jović’s salary is enough to match the contracts of players like P.J. Washington or Terance Mann in a trade—veteran assets playing for teams who are still rebuilding and may be interested in taking a swing on a guy like Jović.
Whether or not they can find a deal the Heat have to at least look into it because Jović is the only trade chip they have left.
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