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Michael Baiamonte, voice of the Miami Heat, and second-longest serving NBA In-Arena Announcer is set to retire after 35 Years with the team. Baiamonte is seen at courtside during the NBA basketball game between the against the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks at Kaseya Center in Miami on October 26, 2025.<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY AL DIAZ<\/p>\n
adiaz@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n
When longtime Miami Heat public address announcer Michael Baiamonte informed the organization in August of his plans to retire at the close of this season, the end still seemed far away.<\/p>\n
But with only a few regular-season home games left and a playoff berth not yet guaranteed for the Heat, the end is near for Baiamonte.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality is hitting home that after 35 amazing seasons, we\u2019re coming to the very end of what I\u2019m super proud of as just an amazing career,\u201d Baiamonte said.<\/p>\n
Baiamonte will soon enter retirement after an iconic 35-season run as the Heat\u2019s PA announcer. The Heat will celebrate Baiamonte and his booming voice by holding \u201cMike B Celebration Night,\u201d which will include tributes throughout the game and a halftime gift presentation ceremony during Saturday\u2019s matchup against the Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center (3 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun and WPLG Local 10).<\/p>\n
Baiamonte has announced more than 1,500 professional basketball games, including six NBA Finals. He has also been the Heat\u2019s in-arena voice for all three of its NBA championships in 2006, 2012 and 2013.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has been more than just the voice of the Heat,\u201d Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. \u201cAnd I kid him all the time, I\u2019m still trying to convince him to stay. I hope it becomes a movement. He\u2019s too young to retire and move on. But he\u2019s also earned that right. Just an amazing guy and an iconic voice that I think everybody around the league recognizes his calls, all of that stuff. There are only a handful of organizations where you have that iconic voice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Making the decision to step away from the role he has become known for around South Florida and the NBA wasn\u2019t an easy one, but it\u2019s a decision Baiamonte contemplated for a year before settling on retirement.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the start of last season, I really gave it some serious thought,\u201d said Baiamonte, who will turn 63 in July and is the second-longest tenured PA announcer in the NBA. \u201cAnd I said, let me take all of last season, my 34th, and let me look at that and kind of confirm or deny my thoughts that, yeah, I was ready to retire. And so, as I went through last year, I\u2019m asking myself these questions. \u2018Are you sure? What do you think? Are you still feeling the same way?\u2019 And everything came back supporting my decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fact that Baiamonte\u2019s three daughters don\u2019t live in South Florida and he just became a grandfather only added to his list of reasons to retire at the end of this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife and I recently became grandparents for the first time,\u201d Baiamonte said. \u201cOur kids live all around the country. They\u2019ve established great careers now. And so, South Florida is not in the cards for them. And I never really get a chance to see them as much as I want. And as I like to tell people, I\u2019m ready after 35 seasons to do what I want, when I want, not when the schedule says I can or I can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Baiamonte said he hasn\u2019t \u201cseriously reconsidered\u201d his decision to retire at the end of the season, he has been reminded of the joys of the job this season.<\/p>\n
The NBA honored Baiamonte\u2019s long career by inviting him to serve as the PA announcer for All-Star Saturday Night at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles in mid-February. The league also had Baiamonte announce his well-known \u201cDos Minutos\u201d call at the two-minute mark of every contest during the NBA All-Star Game\u2019s tournament.<\/p>\n
Baiamonte was also on the Kaseya Center microphone for one of the most memorable performances in NBA history this season, when Heat center Bam Adebayo turned in the second-highest scoring performance in league history by totaling 83 points in a March 10 home win over the Wizards.<\/p>\n
\u201cNever in a million years did I have on my bingo card that I was going to announce a game where a guy scored the second-most points in the history of the NBA \u2014 Bam Adebayo\u2019s 83 points,\u201d Baiamonte said. \u201cI\u2019m saying to myself, \u2018Wow, this is just icing on the cake.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was phenomenal. I joked, boy, the team really pulled out everything they could to try to change my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baiamonte pointed to Adebayo\u2019s 83-point night as \u201cthe biggest regular season game in my 35 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Baiamonte singled out Games 3, 4 and 5 of the 2006 NBA Finals that led to the Heat\u2019s first championship \u201cwhen Dwyane Wade became the greatest player on planet earth\u201d as the most memorable games of his time as the team\u2019s PA announcer. He also labeled Ray Allen\u2019s clutch corner three-pointer in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals that the Heat went on to win for its third title as the \u201cbiggest single shot that I\u2019ve ever announced in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MIA_HeatvsCelticsAGS232.JPG\" "\\"MIA_HeatvsCelticsAGS232.JPG\\"")
Michael Baiamonte, Miami Heat public address announcer, looks up at the screen during the first half of a Miami Heat game against the Boston Celtics on April 1, 2026, at Kaseya Center in Miami. Alie Skowronski askowronski@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n
What makes Baiamonte\u2019s connection with South Florida especially special is that he grew up in the area after moving to Miami as a 9-year-old. He attended Gulliver Prep, developing an interest in basketball and announcing at a young age.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to high school here in Miami. I went to college here in Miami,\u201d Baiamonte said. \u201cI\u2019ve been in this town since I moved here as a 9-year-old kid. So it\u2019s my life. It\u2019s what I know. It\u2019s who I am. It\u2019s what has formed and shaped me. And for what this community in South Florida, Heat fans, just the community in general, how they have accepted me as either their team\u2019s voice or a voice in the community has been incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baiamonte\u2019s first season as the Heat\u2019s full-time PA announcer came in 1991-92 after serving as the team\u2019s fill-in PA announcer for a game on Feb. 21, 1990.<\/p>\n
But even after becoming the Heat\u2019s full-time PA announcer in 1991, Baiamonte also worked for an insurance company until making PA announcing his only job in 1999.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just got to the point where there was so much being asked of me by the Heat organization,\u201d Baiamonte said of leaving insurance to focus on his job with the Heat. \u201cAnd I was starting to get freelance work because of my relationship with the Heat organization that I sat down with my wife and said, \u2018Hey, you think maybe I can make a run at this voice thing full-time and step away from corporate world and see how it goes?\u2019 And she was awesome. She said, \u2018I know if you don\u2019t at least try it, you\u2019ll regret it the rest of your life. So give it a shot.\u2019 I left corporate America in 1999, and I\u2019ve never looked back.\u201d<\/p>\n
At some point in the coming days, Baiamonte will make his signature calls of \u201cDos minutos\u201d and \u201cStand up and make some noise!\u201d for the final time.<\/p>\n
And at some point next season, Baiamonte will attend a Heat home game as a fan for the first time in three decades while another PA announcer serves as the voice at Kaseya Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure it\u2019s going to be strange sitting at home for home games next year, listening to the new voice of the Miami Heat doing their work for the team,\u201d Baiamonte admitted. \u201cBecause for 35 years, it\u2019s been me doing that. Now what will be even more unusual is when I\u2019m in the Kaseya Center, which we\u2019re going to go to some games. I mean, we\u2019re going to be there.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd sitting there while I\u2019m not announcing, I\u2019m sure it will be a very strange thing for me because my world is watching a game unlike a fan. And so what\u2019s it going to be like to sit there and just watch everything and not have to worry about, OK, who scored, who assisted, who\u2019s the foul on, what\u2019s coming up during this timeout. It\u2019s just going to be an unusual, unusual experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Baiamonte, “the voice of the Heat”, announces the Miami Heat team to the crowd during player introductions of the Heat’s playoff game against Washington at then-AmericanAirlines Arena in 2005. Jared Lazarus\/Herald staff <\/p>\n
The Heat will pick Baiamonte\u2019s replacement ahead of next season. Auditions to become the Heat\u2019s new PA announcer have already begun, and the opening continues to draw plenty of interest locally and nationally.<\/p>\n
What is Baiamonte\u2019s advice for the Heat\u2019s next PA announcer?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest thing would be, be yourself,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think that the team is looking for anybody to come in and try to copy anything that we\u2019ve done or, or try to sound like anything that we\u2019ve done. Just be yourself. Let those expressions happen naturally.<\/p>\n
\u201cHeat games started to sound different 35 seasons ago when I started. They sounded different than they did for the first three years, and the fans accepted it. And it\u2019s been a great run, and so they will accept it. They will. It\u2019s going to sound different. There is going to be a transition, but I think we\u2019ll be able to get through it. And whoever our next voice is, I think they\u2019re going to get shown the same love that I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baiamonte will be among those to show his replacement love. But from afar, as he enjoys retirement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really feel like this is the right time for me to be doing it,\u201d Baiamonte said of stepping away from his role with the Heat. \u201cI\u2019m still young, but still able to enjoy life. That\u2019s what my wife and I have been talking about. Hey, if we do this, we want to be able to enjoy it. And so that\u2019s one of the reasons why, even though we are still relatively what I like to call in the youth of our senior years, we still are able to go and do things and we\u2019ll be able to see the kids and travel a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n
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