D’Angelo Russell’s future is still up in the air, and Ira Winderman thinks the Miami Heat ought to at least take a hard look.
The Sun Sentinel reporter made the case Friday that Russell is “worth a shot” for Miami after Memphis waived him, framing the possibility around the Heat’s ability to add him without boxing themselves into a corner later. Winderman pointed to the team’s roster and cap flexibility, and said the contracts of Nick Richards and Myron Gardner could still leave Miami room to chase a buyout veteran down the line.
“With roster and cap flexibility, hard to see why D’Angelo Russell wouldn't be worth a shot by the Heat. With the Nick Richards and Myron Gardner contracts, there still would be the ability down the road to add a buyout veteran.”
That was an argument for why Miami should consider Russell, not a report that the Heat are negotiating with him or planning an offer. Shams Charania’s report also did not name a team pursuing the guard.
The basketball case is pretty straightforward: could Russell give Miami enough offense in a smaller role to justify using one of its openings? His recent production gives both sides of that debate something to work with.
Across 26 games for Dallas in the 2025-26 regular season, Russell averaged 10.2 points and 4.0 assists in 19.0 minutes per game. He shot 40.5 percent from the field and 29.5 percent from three-point range.
The assists are the part that make him interesting. Miami wouldn’t need him to run the whole offense to see whether he can help steady possessions and get teammates the ball in the right spots. In the right setting, that kind of reserve playmaking can matter.
One possible fit would be alongside Bam Adebayo or Giannis Antetokounmpo in ball-screen action. If a guard can force the defense to react and then hit the screener, that opens another way for Miami to start a possession.
But the shot is the issue, and it’s a big one.
If a defender feels comfortable ducking under screens, the whole advantage Russell is supposed to create starts to shrink. Then the offense is left relying on him to knock down the jumper anyway.
His three-point numbers have moved in the wrong direction, too. He hit 41.5 percent from deep with the Lakers in 2023-24, then dropped to 31.4 percent across the Lakers and Nets in 2024-25, before falling again last season.
That means the best argument for bringing him in depends on believing a shooting bounce-back is coming. It’s not enough to say he can pass. The fit has to work next to a star who already dominates the ball.
In a lineup built around Antetokounmpo, Russell would need to function without initiating every trip. If defenses can simply ignore him and load up elsewhere, the value of adding another passer gets smaller in a hurry.
Miami would also have to sort out whose minutes Russell would actually affect. The Heat already have backcourt options in Davion Mitchell, Dru Smith, Pelle Larsson and Ryan Conwell, so adding Russell would not just create another name on the roster. It would force Erik Spoelstra to decide which combinations are better with him in them.
That’s the real comparison: not Russell versus an empty seat, but Russell versus whoever would otherwise be on the floor.
A proper evaluation would ask whether he improves the quality of possessions, whether his shooting forces defenses to pay attention and whether the team can still defend well with him out there. A signing alone would not settle any of that.
The conversation also comes after Tracy McGrady recently suggested Miami might still have more moves to make. Russell’s availability gives that idea a concrete player to attach to it, though neither McGrady’s comment nor Winderman’s view says anything about the Heat’s actual plan.
Winderman’s broader point is about keeping doors open. In August, Richards signed a nonguaranteed contract, and Miami had room beneath its first-apron hard cap for a minimum signing in the remaining standard-roster spot. His Friday post argued that the Richards and Gardner contracts could still leave a path to another addition later.
That flexibility is part of the appeal, but it doesn’t erase the cost of the move. Miami would still be spending a roster spot, practice time and possibly rotation minutes on Russell, while any later addition would bring its own roster and financial questions.
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