Miami Heat

Miami Heat

They are an unmitigated disaster (tell me if you've heard that before!), sporting the league's fifth-worst offense and third-worst defense. Sacramento will also be without star big Domantas Sabonis (meniscus tear) for the next month. The beam is shut off, and the Kings should be on the precipice of a fire sale ... if owner Vivek Ranadive will commit to it.

On December 15, the Miami Heat's path toward a potential blockbuster trade for Anthony Davis will be much more of a possibility, because that's the date when many of the free agents who signed contracts this past offseason become trade-eligible. AD is already trade-eligible, but the more players that are eligible to be moved will make it much more likely for the Dallas Mavericks to find a possible blockbuster deal. For the Heat, Dru Smith is the only additional player who becomes eligible to be traded.

Following two consecutive home wins for the Miami Heat, they are now heading back on the road- starting with a Friday night Emirates NBA Cup matchup versus the Chicago Bulls. Outside of placement in the NBA Cup standings, this is a crucial game for both teams. The Heat are currently the fifth seed in the East at a 9-6 overall record, but Chicago isn't trailing far behind them with an 8-6 record as the seventh seed.

If the Heat want to make a genuine run to the playoffs this season and be anything but an afterthought in the Eastern Conference, they're going to have to add some size to the equation. Unless, of course, the Heat believes Vlad Goldin could work his way to the point where he could factor into the rotation more during the second half of the season. However, considering he hasn't logged a regular-season minute for the Heat so far this season, that may be a stretch.

What made Miami's win the most impressive is that they just kept attacking and never let up. After a slow first six minutes, the Heat's offense kept coming in spurts, and every time Cleveland had a body blow that made it seem like Miami would be walking out with a "moral victory," the Heat responded every time. It's far from where this team was back in April after Cleveland came to town and ended Miami's season with a four-game

Even though the Heat weren't very successful as a team this preseason, there were some bright spots. The play of Norman Powell was certainly one of them. Powell closed the preseason by averaging 16 points on 45 percent shooting from the field and 40 percent shooting from 3-point range. If nothing else, it does seem as if the Heat will be able to rely on Powell as a strong contributor to the team.

On Tuesday, the point guard has seemingly managed to turn up the volume of such chatter as we head into the regular season. In this online era of the 21st Century, it's common practice for players to air out their grievances on social media. Young appeared to have done just that via his personal X account, as he posted a simple yet thought-provoking three-word message that should have Miami and, frankly, the rest of the league tuning in.

Butler, a member of Atlanta's NBA 2K26 Summer League 2025 team, appeared in 27 games (all starts) for Kentucky during the 2024-25 season, tallying career highs of 11.4 points, 4.3 assists and 2.9 rebounds, in addition to 1.6 steals in 26.0 minutes (.498 FG%, .391 3FG%, .735 FT%). A native of Moreno Valley, California, Butler spent his first four collegiate seasons suiting up for San Diego State (2020-24), leading the Aztecs to the 2023 NCAA National Championship Game.

The Heat have a real chance to make something out of this season and become a factor in the weakened Eastern Conference. For that to happen, though, they need Erik Spoelstra to squeeze every possible ounce of production out of this superstar-less roster. Luckily, maximizing a roster just happens to be a strength of Spo's, and he even has an obvious path toward doing that.