Q: Saw your piece on the summer roster. Will the Heat invite different players to camp? – Axel.
A: Considering the Heat have 15 players under contract at the moment (they have not publicly confirmed any Exhibit 10s), they certainly will further round out their roster for training camp, when the player limit is 21. Dru Smith assuredly will be part of that mix, as could others who have been in the team’s G League mix, such as Bryson Warren. At a certain stage it also becomes about players who would be willing to move into the Heat G League program, as was the case last fall with Nassir Little. Remember, the Heat were in attendance at Victor Oladipo’s workout last week in Las Vegas.
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Q: Heat seem to be planning for 2026 free agency. What if all those targeted players re-sign and no one is available to sign? – Chadwick, Lake Worth.
A: I doubt that much focus on the moment is on the 2026 offseason, simply because there is so much still unknown at the moment, from whether Andrew Wiggins (and his 2026-27 player option) will still be on the books, whether there will be an extension with Nikola Jovic, and whether something will be done beyond this final year on the contract of Norman Powell. (A Tyler Herro extension would not hit the books until the 2027-28 season.) Do the Heat look ahead? Certainly. But at the moment, unlike, say, when the Heat looked ahead to the formation of the Big Three in the 2010 offseason, this is not a case of a 2026 masterplan. There simply remains too much in play. If anything, the focus, as always, will remain on the trade market.
Q: We can’t even say the Heat are rebuilding when they keep running it back with the same supporting cast. – Walt.
A: They assuredly are not rebuilding, which the team flatly stated at the end of the season and then showed with the acquisition of 32-year-old Norman Powell. But the approach is that it is not the same supporting cast, that with so many young players, there can be growth from within, whether it is Kel’el Ware, Nikola Jovic or Jaime Jaquez Jr. As usual, it appears the Heat are going to be plowing the middle ground.