With Giannis Antetokounmpo now in the fold, the Miami Heat’s offseason has shifted from headline-making to highly practical. The blockbuster trade changed the roster in a big way, and now the challenge is filling in the edges without much room to work.
Miami sent Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kasparas Jakucionis to Milwaukee in the deal, then watched All-Star Norman Powell leave for the Chicago Bulls in free agency. The Heat have already made a couple of moves of their own, signing wing Tim Hardaway Jr. to a one-year deal and bringing back Simone Fontecchio.
They also created a little breathing room by extending Andrew Wiggins and shaving $9 million off his player option for the upcoming season. Even so, there’s still work to do as the team tries to build around Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo under financial restrictions.
One path forward is to shop the bargain aisle, and a few names fit that mold.
Aaron Holiday is one option. The 29-year-old just finished a productive three-year run with the Houston Rockets, where he never started even with Fred VanVleet missing the entire last season due to injury, but still gave them reliable minutes off the bench.
Holiday has been a steady perimeter shooter, knocking down close to 40 percent of his threes in each of the last three seasons, and he’s also solid at the free-throw line. For Miami, he’d make sense as a backup behind Davion Mitchell and Pelle Larsson in the backcourt.
Doug McDermott is another fit if the Heat want more shooting and a little size. Now 34, McDermott has spent his career bouncing around the league, but the one thing that has stayed constant is his three-point stroke.
He played the last two seasons with the Sacramento Kings and, while his minutes were limited, he hit 41.3 percent from deep across those two years combined. At 6'7", he could give Miami some help at small forward and would be useful mainly as a floor-spacer.
Then there’s Wendell Moore Jr., a younger swing worth a look on a two-way deal. The 24-year-old was recently on a two-way contract with the Detroit Pistons and could be in line for something similar again.
Miami has a two-way spot open, and Moore would fit that lane. A Duke product and 2022 first-round pick, he has had a rough start to his NBA career and appeared in only six games last season for Detroit.
Still, he’s the kind of player Erik Spoelstra could take a swing on, especially with the Heat’s track record of developing G-League talent.
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Summer League can be a noisy place to sort out who actually moved the needle, but Miami had reason to pay attention to Ryan Conwell. The Heats 2026 second-round pick drew strong interest after his run in Las Vegas, with his shooting and defensive effort standing out enough to put him firmly on the radar as the organization keeps tracking how he fits into its long-term picture.
There were other names worth monitoring, too, from Trevor Keels and Jahmir Young still in the mix for two-way opportunities to Vladislav Goldin and Tre Donaldson already landing theirs. Undrafted wing Tre White also made a case for himself with a productive showing, and for Miami, the broader takeaway is the same as always in July: the Heat are looking for players who can defend, compete and give them something real to build on. [Read more 🡒]
Heat Shooting Panic Is Getting Way Out Of Hand
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The bigger point is that the Heat were still 11th in three-point shooting last season, and they did it while dealing with injuries to key players. So while there is a reasonable argument for more depth, especially from a veteran shooter, this does not look like the kind of emergency that requires a full-scale roster overhaul. Miami may not be finished building out the back end of its shooting rotation, but the current narrative is making the problem sound much larger than it really is. [Read more 🡒]
LeBron Just Sparked A New Wave Of Heat Free Agency Buzz
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Meanwhile, Miami had its own basketball to evaluate in Summer League, where Tre Donaldson gave the front office a promising look with a steady all-around showing over four games. The Heat did not make a run to the title game, but Donaldsons play stood out as one of the more encouraging developments, giving Miami at least one young name worth tracking as the offseason buzz keeps building. [Read more 🡒]