The Heat have been busy building around Giannis Antetokounmpo, but their latest move is less about star power and more about plugging a hole. Miami has added center Nick Richards, a low-cost depth piece who had been on the radar as a possible Raptors fit before landing in South Beach.
Richards arrives after a winding 2025-26 season that included stops with the Phoenix Suns and, at the 2026 trade deadline, the Chicago Bulls. The 28-year-old was originally drafted by the Charlotte Hornets in 2020 with the 42nd overall pick, after three seasons at Kentucky. He also happens to have a familiar connection for Toronto fans: he was a teammate of Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley for two college seasons before both entered the NBA in 2020.
For Miami, the appeal is obvious enough. The Heat have already added shooting with Tim Hardaway Jr. and Klay Thompson, but they still needed more size and more center insurance behind Giannis, Bam Adebayo, and, to a lesser extent, Bobby Portis. Richards fits that backup role, even if he’s not the kind of player who changes a team’s ceiling on his own.
That’s really the story with Richards. He isn’t some prized center target, and his free agency dragged on long enough to make that clear.
What he offers is energy, athleticism, and enough functional production to survive in a limited role. The downside is just as visible: he can be loose with the ball and make poor decisions that go beyond what his tools suggest.
Still, for a team looking for a third-string or emergency big, the standard is different. Miami doesn’t need him to be a headline act. It just needs him to give competent minutes when called upon.
That’s part of why the move stings a little from Toronto’s side. The Raptors’ current center group is built around Jakob Poeltl, who is described as a walking question mark, with Collin Murray-Boyles potentially able to claim the main job himself.
Behind them, the depth gets thin fast. Trayce Jackson-Davis sits as the current third-string option, and Kyle Anderson could also factor in as a small-ball five.
Jackson-Davis was Toronto’s most notable 2026 trade deadline pickup, and he’s back for 2026-27, but he remains unproven. There’s also been little sign that the Raptors are fully bought in on his upside in the rotation. Richards would have given them a sturdier insurance option, with more size and physicality than TJD.
The rebounding alone makes the case. Richards has posted per-game boards totals of 8.6, 8.0, 7.6, and 7.5 across his seasons, and that kind of production would have mattered for a Raptors team that struggles on the glass. At 6-foot-11, he also brings a bigger frame than the team’s current depth options, even in an era where Toronto has leaned heavily into “Vision 6’9”.
Miami got him on a non-guaranteed, one-year deal, which makes the whole thing even easier to swallow for the Heat. For Toronto, though, the bigger picture is harder to ignore. The Raptors have tried to address their size concerns with Trey Jemison III on a two-way contract and a return to Trayce Jackson-Davis, but Richards would have been a cleaner, cheaper swing.
Instead, that option is now off the board, and it belongs to Miami.
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