The Heat got a serious dose of reality in the playoffs, getting swept by Cleveland in the opening round and losing Game 4 by 55 points, which coach Erik Spoelstra described as a humbling experience.
“These last two games were embarrassing, but Cleveland is also a very good team,” he said, per Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “We won whatever we won, they won 64 games. We’re as irrational as we usually are, thinking that we have a chance to win this series and they showed us why we weren’t ready for that.”
Changes are coming for a team that had to fight out of the play-in tournament just to get the last playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.
“As an organization, yeah, we’re going to look at this and say this is unacceptable,” Spoelstra said. “We got to get to another level.”
We have more on the Heat:
- Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald details the draft assets and the free agent decisions they must make this summer. The Heat possess the No. 20 pick, courtesy of the Jimmy Butler trade, but Oklahoma City will get their pick at No. 15. Other than the No. 20 pick, the Heat can only use their 2030 first-rounder in a trade before or during the draft. The Heat will likely extend Davion Mitchell a qualifying offer to make him a restricted free agent but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll match any offer sheet. They also have to figure out what to do with Duncan Robinson‘s partially guaranteed contract.
- Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel handed out his regular season and postseason grades for each player, with Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo and Mitchell at the top of the class and Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Terry Rozier drawing a D-minus or F.
- Patience must be exercised as the Heat look for ways to improve, ESPN Insider Bobby Marks opines in his offseason outlook. They have some expiring contracts to dangle and could have much more flexibility to chase free agents in the 2026 offseason if they’re prudent. Hoops Hype’s Mark Deeks also takes an extensive look at the Heat’s offseason, including the contract situation for each player on the roster.