(Mandatory Credit: Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
The Miami Heat have made a series of (questionable) decisions over the last 72 hours.
On Friday, the team traded Haywood Highsmith plus their 2032 second-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for a heavily-protected second-round pick. It reeked of poor asset management. Though the upside was that it got the Heat below the tax and allowed the Heat to sign a 14th player without exceeding that threshold.
Mission accomplished, except the Heat brought back fourth-year guard Dru Smith to a three-year deal.
Smith, who’s going to be 28-years-old in December, is coming off back-to-back season-ending knee injuries and has suffered three serious injuries to his meniscus, ACL and achilles over the last four seasons.
While in a vacuum, Smith’s $7.9 million contract — with only one guaranteed season — isn’t bad. It creates an imbalance in the Heat’s roster, further raising questions about the team’s roster construction heading into the 2025-26 season.
The Miami Heat’s roster remains unbalanced:
The Norman Powell trade created a gaping hole in the Heat’s frontcourt — one that already existed upon the end of the 2024-25 regular season. The Heat don’t have a backup big behind Kel’el Ware and Bam Adebayo. Guess what? They still don’t.
Here’s their 16-player roster (14 standard, two two-way) heading into the 2025-26 campaign, in no order:
Guards:
Kasparas Jakucionis
Davion Mitchell
Terry Rozier
Tyler Herro
Norman Powell
Dru Smith
Pelle Larsson
Myron Gardner (two-way)
Forwards/Wings:
Andrew Wiggins
Nikola Jovic
Simone Fontecchio
Jaime Jaquez Jr.
Keshad Johnson
Bigs:
Bam Adebayo
Kel’el Ware
Vlad Goldin (two-way)
To say the least, this is quite concerning.
The Miami Heat essentially became the 2024-25 Bulls with a ton of guards with varying skillsets and very few playable bigs behind Adebayo. As of right now, one of Goldin — who’s still raw, even though he’s a mountain — Johnson or Jovic would assume backup 5 responsibility, which is a big issue.
One could imagine head coach Erik Spoelstra deploys at least one of Adebayo and Ware at all times — should foul trouble not persist. That’s the only option, whether the two bigs start together or not.
Not to mention, the Heat’s best true point guard is Jakucionis, who will presumably begin the season on the outside-looking-in for a rotation spot. They have optionality in the backcourt and, to some degree, their wing room. But their big room is bereft of rotation players, which could be an issue heading into the new season.
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