2025-26 Miami Heat Season Preview

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MIAMI, FL – The 2024-25 Miami Heat season ended in a 37-45 disappointment. They were able to pull off upset victories against the Bulls and Hawks in the Play-in tournament. However, reality struck as they got swept in the first round of the NBA playoffs against the Cavaliers. The post-Jimmy Butler era has not been kind to this squad so far. Here are my 2025-26 Miami Heat thoughts and expectations in this season preview.

Offseason Moves

Re-signed: Keshad Johnson (team option), Davion Mitchell, Dru Smith

Additions: Simone Fontecchio (trade), Norman Powell (trade)

Draft: Kasparas Jakučionis (20th overall pick)

Departures: Kyle Anderson (trade), Haywood Highsmith (trade), Kevin Love (trade), Duncan Robinson (sign-and-trade)

Unsigned Free Agents: Alec Burks

Best Coach in the League now?

Coach Spo is entering his 18th season as head coach of the organization. He is the longest tenured head coach of all teams in the NBA. Erik Spoelstra has added to his impressive resume by being selected as the USA Basketball head coach. He has just three losing seasons as head coach of the Heat, and he will seek to take his team to the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season. It would be a franchise best if accomplished.

Erik Spoelstra's road to USA 🇺🇸 head coaching position is simply inspiring 🙌 pic.twitter.com/tfv9Z9ZNhf

— FIBA Basketball (@FIBA) October 14, 2025

Tyler Herro Injury and Extension

Tyler Herro was undeniably the Heat’s best player last season, especially after Butler was traded. He enters this season as the team’s top player. However, the Heat will have to play the first month of the season without him as he will miss some time. After having left foot/ankle surgery on September 19th, he is on track to make his season debut in mid-November.

“I’m about to make the fastest ankle surgery comeback in history. I'm looking at some days…as of now I'm gonna be back about 5 games into the season.”

“Just gotta keep rehabbing, I’ll be back sooner than later.”

Tyler Herro is locked in to make his return soon as possible. pic.twitter.com/GXv6xuEv6H

— 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩𝘾𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 (@WadexFlash) October 16, 2025

There has been talk about a Tyler Herro extension for a while now, with the deadline approaching on October 20th. However, it is unlikely to happen by then. Herro has two years left in his deal, including a $31 million cap hit this season. He is coming off the best season of his career, averaging 23.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game on 60.5 percent shooting. Still, he hasn’t been lucky with injuries, which makes sense as to why the Heat haven’t pulled the trigger on a contract thus far.

The Rest of the Starting 5

The Heat have themselves a dominant frontcourt. Kel’el Ware is coming off a season where he earned Second Team All-Rookie honors after having just made the lineup in January. He ranked first among rookies in rebounds (435), second in field goals (233), third in blocks (62), and fifth in points (541). Bam Adebayo’s bread and butter is his defense, but he has always maintained his versatility on offense as well. It would be great to see him go back to his 2022-23 form when he averaged 20.4 points per game.

We haven’t seen enough of Andrew Wiggins to really determine if it was worth trading for him or not. He was sidelined for most of the games since his arrival in South Beach. If Wiggins can replicate his status as he did with the Warriors on their championship run, then the Heat certainly got themselves a deal. Powell was regarded as the biggest snub of the All-Star game this past season. He is expected to boost the team’s scoring, which was previously a liability. Norman Powell provides a boost overall in the team’s backcourt.

Norman Powell is so tuff 🔥 pic.twitter.com/uNm4hDNYMj

— Heat Clips 🎬 (@MiamiClip) October 18, 2025

Young Role Players

The expectations for the Heat’s bench players will be greater as they will be counted on to produce more on the court this season. Jakučionis is the latest draft pick and looks like a promising player based on what was seen in the summer league and preseason. He was also supposed to be a top 10 pick, so Miami grabbed him as a steal. Nikola Jović recently signed a contract extension and provides a big spark with his size. Mitchell showed enough toughness in his time with the Heat that he, too, got extended.

Kasparas Jakučionis deep in his passing bag in his pro debut…

10 assists in 25 minutes pic.twitter.com/UAF1Md7DGn

— NBA University (@NBA_University) October 10, 2025

Jaime Jaquez Jr. took a step back last season, but I believe he will go back to his rookie season form when he was fully healthy. Pelle Larsson is more of a defensive player, but if he can develop his shooting game, he will find success in South Beach for the next few years. Johnson is an athletic forward, and Smith could provide some key minutes to this team. This is a bench with role players in their 20s who have yet to reach their prime and thus could make some noise.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. with AUTHORITY 🔨 pic.twitter.com/mMcVPJRxe0

— NBA (@NBA) October 9, 2025

Win Totals and Expectations

I believe this Heat squad will do better than some of the grim expectations that have been laid out for them elsewhere. They have some young-and-coming players that will be exciting to watch. Look back at their history, and you will find some seasons where they surprised everybody.

I predict the Heat to go 47-36 this season and finish as a 6th seed in the Eastern Conference. The conference is wide open this season, with other teams having star players who are injured. However, if the Heat truly want to go for a deep playoff run, I believe they will have to make a trade for a superstar at the deadline.

The Heat need to be able to close out games this season. It’s crazy to believe that they held double-digit leads in 22 of their 45 losses last season, 15 of those losses came after they entered the 4th quarter with the lead. Miami will be fine if it can overcome this ability to finish out more games this season.

 

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