The 2025-26 campaign is going to be an awkward one for the Miami Heat.
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.
The NBA Finals series that sparked Dwyane Wade's Hall of Fame career, and the one that helped put the Miami Heat on the map, still haunts former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to this day. Cuban admitted as much on a recent podcast with DLLS Mavs. During the interview, Cuban said that he still believes that series was "stolen" from the Mavs.
The Miami Heat traded Haywood Highsmith and a 2032 first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for a top-55 protected 2026 second-round pick, effectively dumping his salary.