Former Heat Big Man Moves Teams: Miami Changing their Front-Court Ways

The Miami Heat have finally figured out their front-court core after years and years of watching that revolving door spin at the Kaseya Center.

From Meyers Leonard to Kelly Olynyk to PJ Tucker to Omer Yurtseven to Caleb Martin to Kevin Love to Kel'el Ware. Back-up bigs made their way through the system as well, such as Dewayne Dedmon, Cody Zeller, and Thomas Bryant.

Bryant was actually on the move today after leaving the Indiana Pacers, who are coming off a run to the NBA Finals, for the Cleveland Cavaliers on a one-year deal.

Free agent center Thomas Bryant has agreed to a one-year deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Mark Bartelstein and Zach Kurtin of @PrioritySports tell ESPN. Bryant played a key reserve role on the Indiana Pacers' second half run to the Finals and now enters his ninth NBA season. pic.twitter.com/taLIrVO4HB
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 23, 2025

Teams are doing what they usually do when it gets closer to training camp: pick up some of the leftovers to fill in the gaps in the big man room. The Miami Heat have been in that situation almost every off-season, and they find themselves in a similar situation now.

The Heat's current big man room consists of Adebayo, Ware, Nikola Jovic (if you want to call him that), Keshad Johnson (If you want to call him that too), and two-way big Vlad Goldin. Miami appears to be avoiding the veteran back-up big man plan this time around, and to be completely honest it's for good reason.

Simply put, Erik Spoelstra and the Heat haven't endured the smoothest road with many of the veteran bigs over the last few years, either due to poor play or fans clamoring for their young guys to be out on the floor getting minutes over some of the guys I named earlier.

Coach Spoelstra is going to lean heavily on lineup staggering this season, even more than usual, if Kel'el Ware does indeed start next to Bam Adebayo. But unfortunately, they are an ankle sprain away from looking extremely thin on the backline.

Goldin is somebody to keep an eye on this season as a player who could get some regular season rotation reps if injuries occur. He's somebody that showcased possessing a high floor and possibly a lower ceiling, which is usually what Spoelstra likes in plug and play bigs. Won't make a ton of mistakes, screen and roll big, and they'll glue him under the basket in a 2-3 zone on defense.

This is a new day for the Miami Heat. Having their core front-court starters and rotation figured out, while the depth gets rocky, compared to their vice versa ways over much of the Jimmy Butler era. And I'll personally say, I think you would rather it this way.