Norman Powell
Getty
Norman Powell has been having an All-Star season.
The Miami Heat are one of the teams that have been in Play-In game purgatory for the past few seasons. This year has been no different for them. At 20-16, the Heat sit in seventh place in the Eastern Conference. But they are tied with the sixth-place team, and just three games back from the third-place team. As the calendar flipped to 2026, Miami is in a great position. Norman Powell is to thank for that.
Powell has had to step up in a big way this season. The Heat have dealt with injuries to some key players like Bam Adebayo and, most recently, Jaime Jaquez Jr, which has put that added pressure on Powell. Tyler Herro’s absence, though, has been the key contributor to Powell’s rise.
Herro is close to a return, but Powell is still going to be one of the main scorers when that happens. With the season he is having so far, the 32-year-old is making his case to be in the All-Star game for the first time. But it will most likely come down to the head coaches vote.
“… his All-Star fate will come down to what head coaches think,” the Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang wrote.
Norman Powell’s All-Star Case
Norman Powell
GettyNorman Powell has been the leading scorer for the Heat this season.
This season, Powell has been the leading scorer in Miami. He is averaging 24.4 points per game to go along with 3.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists. The best part of his year has been his shooting. The former second-round pick is shooting 48.8% from the floor and 42.1% from beyond the arc. He is shooting more this year than in any other year in his career, which makes his percentages more impressive.
Given his performance this season, Powell has earned the right to be in the All-Star conversation. With the new All-Star format and the fan voting, he is not going to be a starter. But Powell believes he has done enough to be a reserve in the game in February.
“I know the voting has changed over the years, but my case is to go out there and help them win. And from doing that, if outside people believe I should make it, I’ll be there. But I do believe that I am an All-Star. I’ve always seen myself as that. And it’s something that I’ve always wanted to work toward in my career,” Powell said, via Chiang.
The voting is now 50% from the fans, 25% players, and 25% media. That will determine the starters, regardless of the position. The coaches will select the reserves, which is where Powell will have his best chance of making the trip to Los Angeles.
With the way he has played, and with the Heat’s record, Powell has every reason to believe he should be an All-Star.
Powell Earned the Respect of the League
Norman Powell
GettyNorman Powell is chasing his first All-Star appearance.
On Sunday, Powell put up 34 points. He shot 11-for-15 from the field and 9-for-12 from deep. That type of production is hard to ignore, especially from someone trying to make his way to an All-Star game.
Including Sunday, he has scored 25-plus points in 15 games this year, while putting up at least 30 in six of those. The league has noticed Powell’s impact long before his performance on Sunday, though. Those league members seem to believe Powell should be an All-Star.
“I’ve learned last year not to get caught up in whether I make it or not. I want to make it, I think I deserve to make it. My peers around the league after games and things like that are telling me that I’m an All-Star and that I should be there. So hopefully it happens for me this year,” Powell told Chiang.
Last season, Powell was held out of the All-Star game, despite averaging a then-career-high 21.8 points per game. There was definitely a case for him last year, and that has only gotten stronger this season.
Whether or not he is an All-Star is going to come down to the coaches across the league, but he is making it tough to leave him out of the game.