Inside The Heat

Miami Heat Reportedly "Victims Of Perhaps The Largest Sports Memorabilia Heist Ever"

Alex Toledo|
Oct 23, 2024; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat president Pat Riley addresses the crowd during the Pat Riley Court dedication ceremony at halftime at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
Oct 23, 2024; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat president Pat Riley addresses the crowd during the Pat Riley Court dedication ceremony at halftime at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images | Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

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Miami Heat

While many Miami Heat fans felt robbed of more potential Finals runs with Jimmy Butler or robbed of finally pulling the trigger to acquire Kevin Durant, the team may have victims of a quite literal robbery recently.

Amin Elhassan, an NBA insider for DraftKings Network, formerly a member of the Phoenix Suns front office, had a shocking report for the Dan LeBatard Show crowd, involving the Miami Heat being victims of a particularly large sports memorabilia heist.

"This one concerns memorabilia. Authenticated memorabilia stolen from the Miami Heat, and sold for many, many, many, many, many millions of dollars," Elhassan said. "Perhaps one of the largest heists of this kind."

"It was described to me, this is one of the largest, if not the largest memorabilia heist in the history of this country in any sport," Elhassan said. "Some of the people involved include a Miami police officer and someone with ties to the NBA."

He continued, describing it as "game-worn stuff that's been stolen and sold for at least 18 months, something like that."

"Game worn [NBA] Finals stuff, and this person was taking them and selling them both within the regular market and within the black market," Elhassan said. "What red flagged within the memorabilia committee is you never see people with this much stuff, right? You might get a game worn jersey, but to get, like, a game worn, full set, NBA Finals for multiple players?"

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After trading away their best player throughout two NBA Finals runs midseason and dealing with a historically bad first round sweep, the Miami Heat had somewhat of an open slate headed into the offseason. One scenario has them surprisingly trading away Tyler Herro after a career season.

Milwaukee Bucks receive: Tyler Herro

Heat Receive: Kyle Kuzma, AJ Green, an unprotected 2031 1st round pick (via MIL), and an unprotected 2032 1st round pick swap

Hawks Receive: Andre Jackson Jr.

Herro, 25, was a first-time All-Star in 2024-2025, averaging 23.9 points, 5.5 assists and 5.2 rebounds. However, he averaged just 17.2 points, 4.2 assists and 3.6 rebounds over the last two first round Playoff exits since 2023-24, converting on 40 percent of his shots and 33 percent of his threes.

There is optimism around the budding star being able to produce more efficiently in the Playoffs with more offensive help around him. However, there are many concerns with how often teams are able to "hunt" Herro due to his defensive reputation.

The Heat are reportedly looking to keep their books clean and opportunistically replenish draft capital to be ready for the next megastar that becomes available.

This trade helps accomplish both of those goals, especially if they don't want to extend Herro, who becomes extension-eligible, (up to three years, $150 million), on Oct. 1.

Herro and team president Pat Riley's exit interview comments suggest they might hold off on those talks until next summer, where he would then be eligible for up to four years, $206.9 million.

In this scenario, the Heat trade away Herro for Kuzma, (30, sifned through 2020), who averaged 14.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists last season and Green (25, expiring contract), a career 42 percent three-point marksman. However, getting an unprotected pick and pick swap that far down the line from the over-leveraged Milwaukee Bucks would be solid value in return for their young star.

Meanwhile, the Bucks use the last of their trade-able assets in their pursuit to keep the team as competitive as possible to keep superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo satisfied.

Published
Alex Toledo
ALEX TOLEDO

Alex, who was born in Miami, is also a producer, co-host and reporter for the Five on the Floor podcast. He has covered the Heat and NBA since 2019 as a season credential holder. He studied journalism at Florida International University.