A six-pack of nuggets on new Heat wing Norman Powell, who was one of only six players in the league last season to average at least 21 points and shoot at least 48% from the field and 40% on threes.
▪ The Heat was the league’s worst team late in close games from Jan. 1 through the end of the season, and one of the two worst-shooting teams in the clutch for the entire season.
Powell — who was acquired for Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love in a three-team trade with the Clippers and Jazz — should help significantly in that regard.
Consider:
1). Last season, the Heat shot 25.6% on threes — 40 for 156 — in the clutch, defined by the NBA as the final five minutes of games with a margin of five points or less. Only the Orlando Magic shot worse on clutch threes at 23.3% (20 for 86).
Tyler Herro was 12 for 63 on clutch threes (19%), Bam Adebayo 3 for 12 (25%), Terry Rozier 6 for 20 (30 percent), Detroit-bound Duncan Robinson 3 for 15 (20 percent) and Nikola Jovic 3 for 11 (27.3 percent).
Conversely, among players who attempted at least 10 clutch threes, Powell was 12th in the league in clutch three-point shooting percentage at 50% (7 for 14).
2). Last season, the Heat shot 39.9% from the field in the clutch, which was 26th in the league – even while factoring in Jimmy Butler’s excellent clutch shooting before he was traded (14 for 25 — 56%).
Herro was at 30.8%, Rozier 26.9, Robinson 33.3.
Powell, conversely, was fifth in the league in clutch shooting percentage among players who attempted at least 35 clutch shots. He made 21 of 39 clutch attempts; that 53.8% ranked behind only Bennedict Mathurin, Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Karl Anthony-Towns among all NBA players.
Darius Garland and Adebayo (52%) were sixth and seventh.
3). Among all NBA players who attempted at least 30 clutch free throws, Powell was tied for fourth (with Mathurin) in shooting percentage at 87.1 (27 for 31). That was behind only Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and DeMar DeRozan.
So if Powell can sustain that elite clutch shooting with the Heat, that could be the difference in a handful of games.
▪ Pundits gave the Heat high marks for the trade.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said Powell’s “steady improvement from the mid-part of his career has been terrific. This kind of talent influx is huge for the Heat.”
The Ringer’s Zach Lowe, formerly of ESPN: “Norm Powell was a borderline All-Star last year. The Miami Heat got him for nothing relevant to their present or future. The Heat traded Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love for a guy who some people thought should be on the All-Star team last year. That’s crazy…
“It gives them someone who goes north/south. They make art out of it but sometimes art can become tiresome of these passes, cuts, and fancy handoffs. Sometimes it’s like can someone get the damn to the paint and rim, and Norm Powell can put his head down and do that.”
Yahoo’s Kevin O’Connor: “The Heat are the big winners of the deal. They get Norm Powell for scraps. So you’re getting a guy who is a Sixth Man of the Year candidate. Arguably an All-Star last year. And you’re getting that guy for scraps.”
ESPN’s Bobby Marks, the former Nets executive: “This is a home run trade for Miami.”
▪ Powell has consistently ranked among the league’s best shooters on catch-and-shoot threes.
Last season, he made 108 of 239 of them, a 45.2% clip that ranked sixth behind only Taurean Prince, Durant, Towns, Isaiah Joe and Jokic (minimum 200 attempts).
On catch-and-shoot threes, he shot 45.4, 42.6 and 49.6 the previous three seasons.
What’s more, he has shot between 45.8 and 53.5% on wide open threes each of the past five seasons, as Hoopshabit’s Simon Smith noted. That’s excellent.
▪ Powell, who started all 60 of his appearances for the Clippers last season, has been slightly better in 259 games as a starter than in 358 games as a reserve.
In his career, he has averaged 27.2 points per 48 minutes as a starter, while shooting 48% overall and 41.3% on threes.
In his all of his appearances off the bench, he has averaged 25.0 points while shooting 46% overall and 38.1 on threes.
If the Heat doesn’t trade Andrew Wiggins, the case could be made to start Powell and Herro together (without a natural point guard in the lineup) and bring Davion Mitchell off the bench.
▪ Powell is considered a competent defender, but last season’s metrics weren’t favorable.
The player he was guarding shot 49.4% against Powell (257 for 320); those players shot 45.8% against everyone else in the league. That 49.4 was 16th worst among all NBA guards who defended more than 150 shots. (Herro was at 48.5.)
But Powell allowed a 45.6% shooting percentage the previous season.
Damian Lillard, who played with Powell in Portland, noted he’s a “guy that really helps our defense. Can knock down open shots, put it on the floor, get to the rim and finish.”
▪ Because Kyle Anderson’s $9.4 million salary for 2026-27 was fully nonguaranteed, acquiring Powell and his expiring contract doesn’t affect the Heat 2026-27 cap space at all.
Barring further trades, Miami would have no cap space in the summer of 2026 if Wiggins exercises a $30.2 million player option for 2026-27. Miami would have in the range of $27 million in cap space next summer if it trades Wiggins for an expiring contract before next February’s trade deadline, or if Wiggins opts out next June.
As for the remainder of this offseason, Miami will continue to listen to offers on Wiggins, but the Heat values him enough that it would trade him only for something it considers better.
According to two Los Angeles-based reporters, the Lakers rejected Miami’s offer of Wiggins for Rui Hachimura, Dalton Knecht and a first-round pick.
With the Heat payroll at $192 million — about $4 million above the luxury tax line — don’t expect the Heat to use its tax-payer midlevel exception or add much payroll.
Miami, which is hard capped at $196 million, wants to get below the tax line by the end of next regular season, when the NBA calculates tax bills.