The Miami Heat could be stuck in NBA purgatory for the next few years, with several expensive contracts devoted to players not good enough to be number one options and a president in Pat Riley who refuses to rebuild. While the Heat recently swung a smart trade for versatile wing Norman Powell, it's unlikely to be enough to make them true contenders even in the weakened Eastern Conference.
The offseason malaise has certainly caught up to Heat fans, who are dreaming of ways to resurrect the team's glory years in the early 2010s when they were led by LeBron James. One way to bring back that era could be to explore ways to bring back James himself, who is now 40 years old but still a top ten player in the NBA.
“I kind of love it because the team is missing the point guard,” said Wes Goldberg of the Locked on Heat podcast when speaking about the idea of bringing James back.
“LeBron's basically the point guard,” he continued. “Point guard with (Tyler) Herro, Powell, Bam (Adebayo), fill in the fifth starter. But just putting LeBron in the middle of the team with a defensive anchor big who's super versatile like Bam, and then two of the better three point shooters in the league in Tyler Herro and Norman Powell. If LeBron is concerned that the Lakers are now a Luka Doncic team, what I just described to you in Miami, that's a LeBron team.”
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It remains unclear how the Heat would acquire James in this scenario unless the Los Angeles Lakers were to buy him out, which would appear highly unlikely at the current juncture.
In theory, the idea is intriguing, as LeBron's size at the point guard position would help the Heat offset the fact that they would be small at every other position on the floor.
Still, Heat fans probably shouldn't hold their breath on this one.
a]:text-link [&_>a]:underline">Jackson Stone is a sports journalist for ClutchPoints with expertise in covering the NBA, NFL, and CAA Football. The Mercer University senior from Atlanta is on track to graduate with a BA in communications, and he has bylines at FanSided and USA Today Sports' Georgia athletics website.