Assessing the Heat's Biggest Needs at the 2026 NBA Draft

Since their 2023 NBA Finals run, the Miami Heat have been in perhaps the worst possible state an NBA organization could be in. They haven't been bad enough to land a top draft pick, but they also haven't been good enough to land a high playoff seed and compete past the first round.

The Heat are a perennial Play-In team at the moment. 2026 saw them compete in the tournament for the fourth year in a row, but for the first time since 2019, they missed the playoffs.

Miami will enter the 2026 NBA Draft with more uncertainty than ever. The organization has been heavily linked to stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kawhi Leonard, but how does that affect this lottery pick (13th overall)?

Say the Heat keep their first-round selection. They'll have to fill a variety of needs this offseason, two of which could be improved in this year's draft:

True Playmaker

The statistics tell a different story. Miami finished the regular season 12th in offensive rating and fifth in assists per game. But the rotation still lacked a primary playmaker. Tyler Herro, Normal Powell and Davion Mitchell ran a committee of backcourt floor generals, but outside of Kasparas Jakučionis, there isn't a true rotational point guard.

With the 13th pick in the draft, the Heat could realistically target lead guards such as Labaron Philon Jr., Christian Anderson or Bennett Stirtz to fill that hole at the one. Any one of them can run an offense while also knocking down timely shots, especially if Herro is on the way out for a big name or Powell isn't re-signed.

Plenty of teams across the league (i.e., Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks) lacked true playmakers to elevate the offense, and Miami was one of them. It has the scoring talent across the board to be a legitimate threat, but a true distributor would bring the best out of the stars.

Frontcourt Depth

Bam Adebayo alternated between the four and five spots with Kel'El Ware taking a big step, while Andrew Wiggins and Jaime Jaquez Jr. were solid forwards. However, it's hard to find a serious rotational piece outside of those four, which means the Heat could target frontcourt depth at the draft.

This could be on both the offensive and defensive ends. Offensively, Hannes Steinbach and Nate Ament are talented prospects with great length and positional versatility. Defensively, Aday Mara, Yaxel Lendeborg and Karim López can be impactful in and out of the paint.

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