Star forward LeBron James’ decision to depart the Miami Heat in free agency in the summer of 2014 marked the conclusion of the most fruitful era in the franchise’s history. Miami reached the championship series in every one of James’ four seasons with the organization and took home two NBA titles.
After James left the Heat to reunite with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross boldly said that the Dolphins were “capturing the imagination” of South Florida. Ross made the comments in the summer of 2015.
It’s been about a decade since then, but the Heat reportedly have “never forgotten” what Ross said, according to Five Reasons Sports’ Ethan J. Skolnick.
“In 2014, after LeBron left, Steve Ross said the Dolphins were ‘Capturing the imagination of this town,'” Skolnick wrote via Discord.
“The Heat have never forgotten that comment.”
The Heat haven’t won a title since James left all those years ago, but they’ve knocked on the door of a championship on more than one occasion. Miami has represented the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals twice since then in 2020 and 2023, and the Heat made another deep run to the Eastern Conference Finals in the 2022 NBA Playoffs.
While the Heat have consistently been one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference over the last decade or so, the Dolphins haven’t had the same success. The last time they won a playoff game was all the way back in 2000.
The Dolphins started their 2025 season off on a less-than-stellar note as well, as the team got embarrassed in its Week 1 contest against the Indianapolis Colts over the weekend. There were no real positive takeaways for Miami in the 33-8 loss, as its defense was porous and its offensive unit looked totally out of whack.
There’s no real debate about whether the Heat or Dolphins have been the more successful franchise since Ross made those comments, but with any luck, there will be brighter days ahead for Ross’ organization.
Hopefully, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, wide receiver Tyreek Hill and the Dolphins won’t let their poor performance from Week 1 carry over into the games to follow. Miami will seek its first win of the new campaign when it takes on the New England Patriots in Week 2. The Patriots are on the heels of a seven-point loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.