Heat attention turns to NBA draft, as party, summer plans come into focus

MIAMI — The Miami Heat’s youth movement showed two more signs this week of continuing in the near future.

First, the Golden State Warriors confirmed that the Heat will be one of three teams that they will be hosting in a summer league ahead of the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, with the Heat then announcing they will host a draft party.

The Heat currently hold a single pick in the NBA draft, the No. 20 selection obtained from the Warriors in the Feb. 6 trade of Jimmy Butler. The Heat’s own 2025 first-round pick, at No. 15, now belongs to the Oklahoma City Thunder, to complete the 2019 trade that first brought Butler to the Heat.

While the Heat still could potentially trade out of the draft in order to create future draft flexibility, the Heat confirmed that Kaseya Center will host a party beginning at 7 p.m. on June 25, the night of the first round of the NBA draft.

The NBA draft will continue with the second round on June 26, with the Heat’s 2025 second-round pick now belonging to Golden State at No. 41. The pick initially was dealt to the Indiana Pacers in 2019 for the draft rights to forward KZ Okpala.

Although admission to the Heat draft party is free, an advance RSVP for tickets is required, with details at the team’s website.

The Heat party will include the opportunity to play on Pat Riley Court at the arena, with appearances, according to the team, of “favorite gameday faces.”

The NBA draft starts at 8 p.m. that night, with a maximum of five minutes between selections, which should put the Heat’s pick sometime before 10 p.m.

From there, it will be a quick turnaround for those added by the Heat either during or after the draft, with the Warriors announcing the Heat’s participation in the seventh-annual California Classic. In addition to the Heat and Warriors, that three-day summer league also will feature the summer rosters of the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs.

The Heat’s schedule for the games at the California Classic at the Warriors’ Chase Center will be 4:30 p.m. Eastern on July 5 against the Spurs, 4:30 p.m. on July 6 against the Lakers and a time to be determined on July 8 against the Warriors.

From there, the Heat’s summer roster will travel to the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, an event that includes rosters from all 30 teams. The schedule for that event, which runs July 10-20, has yet to be determined.

The Heat’s summer roster this year will be guided by assistant coach Eric Glass, who previously coached the Heat at summer league in 2018 and ’19.

Glass has been with the Heat for 15 seasons, with this past season his fourth in the role of assistant coach/player development, sitting behind the Heat bench on game nights.

The Heat won the championship last season in Las Vegas under former video coordinator Dan Bisaccio, who went on last season to coach the team’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce.

In addition to the Heat’s potential pick at No. 20, the team’s summer-league roster could also include 2024 summer-league participants Keshad Johnson, Isaiah Stevens and Josh Christopher, with Johnson ending the season on a standard contract and Stevens and Christopher on two-way deals.

Less certain would be participation by 2024 draft picks Kel’el Ware and Pelle Larsson, with Ware ending last season as a playoff starter and with Larsson to participate this summer at EuroBasket with Sweden.

The Heat, however, do have a history of previous first-round picks returning to summer league, including a cameo appearance last year in Las Vegas by 2023 first-round pick Jaime Jaquez Jr.

Heat attention turns to NBA draft, as party, summer plans come into focus

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