The Miami Heat have been one of the league’s biggest overachievers in the fledgling stages of the 2025-26 NBA campaign.
Despite a lack of a legitimate superstar and the fact that key players like Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo and Norman Powell have been sidelined at times, Miami owns the No. 4 seed in the East with a 14-8 record. If the season ended today, the team would have home-court advantage in the opening round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs.
Amid the Heat’s unexpected success, team legend Alonzo Mourning, who currently serves as the vice president of player programs and development for the franchise, talked about Miami’s aspirations and said the squad pretty much controls its own destiny so long as it avoids the injury bug.
“It does not surprise me,” Mourning told Forbes. “Under the leadership of Erik Spoelstra, he’s the best coach in the NBA. He made a tremendous amount of adjustment this summer, picking up Norman Powell has helped us out tremendously. Obviously, we didn’t realize the impact that he would have immediately, the way he is playing for us.
“The long and short of it is, you know, we pretty much control our destiny if we stay healthy, God willing. We stay healthy, I think nothing but good things will evolve from it.”
If the level at which Miami has played this season is any indication, a deep playoff run for the team could be in the cards.
The Heat have played solid basketball on both ends of the floor, ranking fifth in the NBA in defensive rating while using a new-look pace to add some life to their offense. They’ve already earned some wins against some of the NBA’s heavyweights, such as the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Eastern Conference also is far from the toughest it’s ever been and feels pretty open. The top two seeds in the conference right now belong to the Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors, and both of those squads are highly unproven and haven’t won a single playoff series in quite a while.
Not only that, but strong contenders in years past such as the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers are dealing with injuries and have taken steps back as a result.
However, as Mourning suggested, the Heat are going to need to have a relatively clean bill of health if they want to be playing deep into the playoffs, and plenty of their best players have been in and out of the lineup. Here’s to hoping that Miami’s injury luck will get a lot better as the season rolls on.