The Miami Heat’s opening night was a rough one from deep, and that kind of start is exactly why a veteran like Gary Harris belongs on the radar.
Miami dropped its season opener by 25 points at home to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the long ball was a problem all night. The Heat finished just eight-for-33 from three-point range, a shaky 24.2 percent. There were a couple of bright spots early - Giannis Antetokounmpo looked like he hadn’t missed a beat in his MVP form, and Klay Thompson opened the game by hitting 50 percent from three - but the perimeter offense never really settled in.
That concern isn’t coming out of nowhere. Last season, Miami ranked No. 18 in the league in three-point percentage at 36.1 percent, so this already wasn’t a strength that could afford much slippage.
Then came the roster turnover tied to the blockbuster deal for Antetokounmpo. Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware and Kasparas Jakucionis all shot better than 37 percent from beyond the arc, while Norman Powell, who hit 38 percent from three-point range, left for the Chicago Bulls in free agency.
That’s a lot of shooting out the door at once.
The Heat tried to patch things up this offseason by bringing in Tim Hardaway Jr. and Thompson on short-term deals. Hardaway Jr. has been one of the league’s better three-point shooters in recent seasons, and Thompson still brings the reputation of a historic marksman, even if his stroke has declined slowly since leaving the Golden State Warriors in 2024. That said, if Miami wants one more veteran to help steady the offense from the outside, Gary Harris is sitting there in free agency.
Harris, 32, was recently waived by the Detroit Pistons. He’s coming off a season in which he played 48 games for the Milwaukee Bucks and shot 41.2 percent from three.
For a Heat team that appears committed to a veteran-heavy rotation, he fits the mold. He’s been undervalued for years, and his catch-and-shoot work would give Miami another proven option on the perimeter.
Thompson and Hardaway Jr. should still be expected to handle a big share of the shooting load. But if the Heat want another experienced hand to reinforce that part of the offense, Harris looks like the cleanest available answer.
In Other News...
Heat Already Have A Nikola Jovic Problem Around Giannis
Nikola Jovics first night in a bigger role didnt do much to settle Miamis questions around the frontcourt. In the season opener, he played 24 minutes and finished with four points, four rebounds and two assists, but the more important part for the Heat was how uneven the possession-by-possession impact looked. Between shaky shooting efficiency and some questionable decisions, Jovic did not give Miami much reason to feel locked into his spot in the rotation.
That matters even more with the Heat adjusting to life in the first year with Giannis Antetokounmpo, when every minute around the stars has to be earned. Miami is still sorting out which combinations actually help, and Jovic is one of the players under the microscope as the staff weighs whether there is a better option for those minutes. The opener was only one game, but it did little to ease the sense that the Heat still have a rotation issue to solve. [Read more 🡒]
Giannis Gave Heat Fans A Big Debut And An Immediate Concern
Giannis Antetokounmpo wasted no time making an impression in a Miami uniform, delivering 35 points and six rebounds in his Heat debut while setting a new franchise record for the most points by a player in his first game with the team. It was the kind of entrance that instantly changes the conversation around a roster, and it even nudged past LeBron James previous debut standard of 31.
Still, the scoreline told a harsher story for Miami, which fell 131-106 to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Heats issues were hard to miss in the areas that usually travel well in November and beyond, with rebounding and three-point shooting both turning into immediate concerns even as Antetokounmpo supplied the headline performance. [Read more 🡒]
Heat Season Opener Took An Embarrassing Turn After Edwards Eruption
Minnesotas season opener in Miami turned ugly in a hurry when Anthony Edwards overwhelmed the Heat with 45 points and 10 rebounds, powering the Timberwolves to a statement win. What made the night sting even more for Miami was Edwards saying he had extra fuel because of trash talk from Heat reserve Myron Gardner, a detail that quickly pushed the game from a simple loss into an uncomfortable off-court storyline for the home team.
Erik Spoelstra then had to clean up the fallout, publicly making clear he did not approve of Gardners approach toward Edwards. Gardner was held out of the following practice, a sign that the Heat wanted to slow the situation down before it spread any further. For a team trying to set the tone early in the season, the opener became a reminder that sometimes the most damaging mistakes happen long after the final buzzer. [Read more 🡒]