Miami Heat president Pat Riley insisted Friday that the club is not far from championship contention despite finishing 10th in the Eastern Conference and exiting in the first round of the play-in tournament.
“I think we were competitive as hell,” Riley told reporters during his annual end-of-season news conference at the team’s practice facility. “If I can get into the Finals, just like we did in ’23, then I would be happy.” The longtime executive added that the only opponents who would have made him “uncomfortable” this season were the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs, two franchises in the Western Conference.
Eastern chaos fuels belief
The New York Knicks ultimately rolled through the East to reach the NBA Finals, while several projected contenders stumbled, a postseason landscape that Riley said reinforced Miami’s internal optimism.
Eyes still on Antetokounmpo
The Heat continue to surface in league speculation as a potential landing spot if Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo ever becomes available, according to South Florida Sun Sentinel reporter Ira Winderman. Crafting a viable offer would be difficult: guard Tyler Herro represents Miami’s clearest salary-matching chip, while center Bam Adebayo is considered off-limits. Miami does possess multiple young players and future draft assets that could be packaged in a blockbuster scenario.
Morant alternative viewed skeptically
Winderman also floated Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant as a fallback option should Antetokounmpo remain in Milwaukee. That path appears less attractive, with Winderman noting the Heat likely would not part with draft compensation and would require a multi-team framework, again centered on Herro’s contract, to satisfy league salary rules.
For now, Antetokounmpo remains the primary prize, and Riley sounded confident that Miami’s current core, supplemented by the right addition, can contend for another Finals berth.
Source: Hoops Wire
