The Miami Heat have one roster spot left, and the final decision could come down to whether they want flexibility or another swing on upside.
After a busy offseason that brought in Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis from the Milwaukee Bucks in a deal that sent four players and picks the other way, Miami has continued to reshape its group around proven veterans. Norman Powell departed for the Chicago Bulls in free agency, but the Heat have since added Klay Thompson, Nick Richards and Tim Hardaway Jr. on a one-year deal. Simone Fontecchio is also back on a one-year contract.
That leaves one open spot, and free agency still offers at least one name with real intrigue: Cameron Thomas.
Thomas is still unsigned at the end of August, which is a striking place for a player who was viewed as one of the league’s best pure scoring guards just two years ago. A five-star recruit coming out of high school, he spent one season at LSU, earned All-SEC First Team honors and helped the Tigers reach the second round of the NCAA tournament before entering the 2021 draft. Brooklyn took him at the end of the first round.
His path since then has been anything but smooth. Thomas’ first two seasons with the Nets were uneven, but his role expanded in 2023 and the scoring finally popped. He averaged north of 20 points for a Brooklyn team near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, and then followed that by averaging 24 points a season ago.
But the momentum didn’t last. Public disputes with the organization pushed him into trade chatter, and after spending a long stretch in restricted free agency last offseason, he ultimately returned to Brooklyn on the one-year qualifying offer.
That move did not work out the way he hoped. He started only eight games, then was waived at the trade deadline when the team couldn’t even find a trade partner.
Thomas finished the season with the Milwaukee Bucks, where he played 18 games and posted unimpressive numbers before heading back into free agency.
At 24, he is now being discussed less as a proven scorer and more as a reclamation project. Still, the talent is obvious enough that Miami could look at him as a worthwhile gamble, especially with Erik Spoelstra in place. The question is whether the Heat want to use that last spot on a player with serious scoring upside and just as much volatility.
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Vincents path to this point has already taken another strange turn, after Los Angeles moved him to Atlanta. Now the possibility of a minimum deal with Miami could put the Heat back in the kind of roster conversation that often defines late summer: whether a trusted old fit is worth the spot, and what it means for the team that let him go in the first place. [Read more 🡒]
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Heat Role Players Suddenly Matter Much More In The Giannis Debate
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For the Heat, that mix matters because Antetokounmpo does not need every possession to start and end with him. He needs players who can defend, space the floor and keep the workload from piling up over the course of a season. Wiggins, Fontecchio and Larsson all profile as the sort of complementary pieces who can help make that possible, which is why their value looks a lot different in this version of the roster than it did a few days ago. [Read more 🡒]