The Miami Heat meet most of Giannis's qualifications

Might the Miami Heat finally be in the right place at the right time for the right superstar?

It's been since 2019 that the Heat landed anyone resembling the "whale" that Pat Riley used to speak of, before the term became "orca." That was Jimmy Butler, who wasn't necessarily considered a top 10 player at the time, but whom Riley claimed Butler was, and then Butler showed flashes of that in two NBA Finals runs before flaming out with the Heat.

Since then, the Heat are associated with all sorts of elite players on social media -- whether Damian Lillard or Kevin Durant -- but haven't brought the biggest fish back to South Florida.

If Chris Haynes -- who has a familial relation with Milwaukee Bucks franchise forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and clearly a close reporting relationship -- is taken at his word, the Heat have a lot going for them in a possible Giannis pursuit.

“Ultimately, for Giannis, wherever he lands I think preferably he would like to have some sun. He would like to be probably in a big market. Outside of that, he just wants to be on a team where he can compete for a championship. He’s adamant that’s a main priority.” @ChrisBHaynes pic.twitter.com/GWkXk5VNzi
— Dru (@dru_star) December 13, 2025

Haynes mentioned three factors: sun, big market and contending opportunity. Previously, Antetokounmpo has been known to want to play in a place without state taxes. That eliminates all but Miami, Orlando, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Memphis.

No one sees him going to Memphis, on market size alone -- the Grizzlies are in the bottom five.

But it's not clear that the tax thing is a deal-breaker, anyway, even though any man would want to keep more of the money he makes.

Let's look at how the Heat stack up in the other three categories that Haynes mentions:

1. Sun

It's called... the Sunshine State. There's a case to rest here. Of course, it can be sunny in Orlando as well, but there's no beach there -- magical man-made ones don't count. It can be sunny in Texas as well, so maybe the Spurs can qualify. And yes, the Lakers and Clippers. New York? Depends on the season, of course. Plenty of slush in the city in February. Is Giannis done with ice scraping? We shall see.

2. A medium market, with moxie!

There's long been a mischaracterization of Miami -- or South Florida as a whole -- as a major sports market. It's not. It ranks 17th in actual market size among NBA teams, right behind the Orlando Magic. But does anyone really think of Orlando as a higher-profile place than, you know, South Beach. (Even though real Miamians don't really go to South Beach, unless the Uber driver gets lost). New York, of course, is first in market size, though we can safely rule out the Nets as an option. Similarly, he's not going to Washington to toil for the Wizards, even though the nation's capital ranks a few spots ahead of Miami. This does make you wonder about Oklahoma City, though; that's the third-smallest NBA market. San Antonio is the fourth-smallest, just behind.... Milwaukee.

3. Well, the Heat have done the thing

OK, Dwyane's gone. LeBron and Shaq, too. But few teams in the NBA have been as consistently competitive as the Heat over the past 30 years, and a lot of the same people are running things. This isn't the best roster they've had, but there should be enough left to compete even if the Heat have to give away the so-called Godfather offer, starting with Tyler Herro and Kel'el Ware and maybe even Jaime Jaquez, Jr. And the Heat have shown they can strip down the roster to get a star (O'Neal is an example) and quickly build it back up, with players who take less to sign for the shot to secure glory in the sun, with no state tax, close to South Beach. Only the Spurs and Thunder and a couple of other organization can compete with the Heat's stability and history, recent or lengthy, The Knicks can only bring out those 1970 and 1973 rings, dusty and musty as they may be.