Even just a few years ago, to merely raise the question would have invited incredulity if not laughter, and to dare ask it aloud might have branded you a lunatic.

Can the Florida Panthers be bigger than the Miami Heat in a crowded South Florida sports market? Can hockey not merely survive where ice is born to melt but thrive to a degree it surpasses basketball in overall stature?

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It is time to wonder that as a reasonable debate, and not as a maybe-someday hypothetical but as a tectonic shift that might already have begun to happen.

The Panthers are on top of the world in their sport as the Heat is sinking in theirs.

This is still a football town, don’t get that wrong. That’s despite the Dolphins and Hurricanes largely abdicating this century, with UM’s last national championship in 2001 and the Fins’ last playoff win in 2000. But the biggest team after football is open to debate for really the first time.

One team is coming off a second straight Stanley Cup championship celebration while the other tries to move on from being swept from the first round of the playoffs by a humiliating 122 combined points.

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And what the Panthers and Heat have done, or not done, this offseason, underlines the opposite directions.

The Cats have already won the summer, doing the seemingly impossible by re-signing all three of their key free agents in Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand and Aaron Ekblad.

The Heat seems stuck, mostly watching as others make the moves. And the torpor is reflected in DraftKings’ NBA title odds for next season, as of Wednesday. Miami is tied for 10th-best odds In the Eastern Conference of 15 teams. Bottom-third.

In sports, it’s a good thing when your team is hated nationally. It’s how fans convey respect. Hatred is borne of something that is harder to admit: Jealousy.

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So the Panthers are hated, and revel in it, feed off it. Matthew Tkachuk et al is less popular in Canada than Trump’s tariffs.

The Heat were that kind of hated not so long ago, in 2010-14, when LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined forces with Dwayne Wade to form the Big 3 and reached four straight Finals, winning two championships. Today’s Heat does not inspire enough interest nationally to be hated, or even paid attention to.

The LeBron-era Heat imploded after four years, ended almost as ugly as the Jimmy Butler era just did.

The Panthers are the new dynasty, on their own magical four-year run — but one that shows no signs of being over.

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While Florida has its championship-core of skaters under contract for several more years, the Heat appears (as of now) ready to run it back with its core led by Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo.

Miami’s quiet offseason thus far has consisted of drafting Illinois guard Kasparas Jakucionis (very good pick), re-signing Davion Mitchell on a two-year deal (I like that, too), and trading 3-point guy Duncan Robinson to Detroit straight up for reserve small forward Simone Fontecchio (not so good on that one).

It’s a positive to unload Robinson’s bloated contract, but Miami is losing a 39-percent shooter from distance who is eighth in the NBA for most 3’s over the past five seasons. And getting in Fontecchio an unremarkable role player.

The Heat was one of three finalists last month preferred by Kevin Durant, but he ended up in Houston, the latest pipe dream to disappear. Giannis Antetokounmpo could be the new pipe dream. Maybe the return of LeBron will be the one after that?

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A more reasonable and still-available target for Miami might be Golden State forward Jonathan Kuminga, who is only 22 and introduced himself by averaging 24.3. points on 55 percent shooting in four games in the playoffs’ second round when Steph Curry was out.

A trade also is still possible as Miami dangles Andrew Wiggins and Terry Rozier.

But the Heat (as of now) seem likely to saddle up Herro/Adebayo with a promising youthful core in Kel’el Ware, Nikola Jovic, Jaime Jacquez and Jakucionis. It could prove smart. For now, though, it is not impressing the oddsmakers who have Miami’s title chances languishing tied for 10th in the conference and tied for 20th league-wide.

What might well frustrate Heat fans is that the conference appears wide-open. It has become the Wild, Wild East. The Cavaliers and Knicks stand apart as East co-favorites but after that it’s jumbled, largely because Achilles injuries recently erased three big stars from next season in the Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton, Celtics’ Jayson Tatum and Bucks’ Damian Lillard, whom Milwaukee surprisingly waived this week.

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Those injuries meant an opportunity for other East teams, like Miami, to boldly seize. The Heat has thus far declined.

The basketball franchise owned by Micky Arison and led by Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra has for many years been the best-run and most successful major team in town.

Now the Heat is looking up at the new king, and trying to keep pace.

The Florida Panthers not only run the NHL now, they are also the new state of the art in South Florida sports.