Jul 16, 2026; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (7) is introduced as a new member of the team by Miami Heat president Pat Riley (left) and head coach Erik Spoelstra (right) during a press conference at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Jul 16, 2026; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Heat forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (7) is introduced as a new member of the team by Miami Heat president Pat Riley (left) and head coach Erik Spoelstra (right) during a press conference at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Ahead of the 2026-27 NBA season, nobody can agree on what to expect in the Eastern Conference standings. We know teams like the Knicks, 76ers, and Cavaliers will be near the top, but every other team remains a wild card after a summer of so much activity.
When it comes to the Miami Heat, critics are still split on how they stack up to the competition. While some claim they are a tier below the top contenders, former NBA star Gilbert Arenas argued that they will finish with the best record in the East. To make his case, he pointed out Miami’s roster in 2023, the year they made the Finals.
“You’re telling me Pat Riley can go to the finals with Tyler Herro as the No. 1 scorer, Bam, Jimmy Butler third, they got Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin, Max [Strus], Victor [Oladipo], Gabe, old a** Kevin Love, Hayward, Highsmith, Duncan Robinson, and Cody Zeller… they went to the finals with an AAU team,” said Arenas on his podcast. “Now he has a real juggernaut over there. Every championship Pat Riley has had and won, he’s had a freak of nature on his team. He just got another one.”
The Heat are known to get the most out of their players, and head coach Erik Spoelstra has consistently helped his team outperform expectations. Besides Spo’s genius, the iconic “Heat culture” also plays a role by establishing a standard for players and demanding excellence from everyone. It was those factors that helped the Heat make the Finals in 2020 and 2023, despite not being as talented or deep as their competitors.
For Arenas, however, the biggest reason for his faith in the new-look Heat is the partnership between Giannis and Bam Adebayo. While Giannis is Bam’s best teammate by far, Gilbert says Adebayo is a better sidekick than Khris Middleton, who won a title with the Bucks in 2021. Last season, in 73 games, he averaged 20.1 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game on 44.2% shooting from the field.
“Y’all acting like Bam ain’t one of the coldest 1-on-1 players,” Arenas added. “He’s a better 1-on-1 player than Khris Middleton. Who has to guard Bam now when Giannis is there? The reason we don’t know what Bam is is that Miami, for the last 4-5 years, has had all option twos and threes. Now you have a number one option coming in, so Bam gets to go to what he really is: a second-option guy who can do a little bit of everything. I look at him like a Lamar Odom.”
On paper, the Heat may not be a “superteam,” but it’s foolish to overlook them completely. Between Giannis, Bam, Andrew Wiggins, Klay Thompson, Bobby Portis, Davion Mitchell, Nikola Jovic, and Tim Hardaway Jr. (among others), they have a solid rotation that has everything you need for a long playoff run.
As we’ve seen before, the Heat can do a lot with very little, but they have a lot more to work with this season. If they could make the Finals in 2023 as the eighth seed in the East, who is to say they can’t go all the way with two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo at the helm?