Miami Heat

After just making the NBA Finals last year in the NBA Bubble, the Miami Heat brought back basically everybody from their Eastern Conference Championship roster a season ago, but struggled early on. Injuries and health protocols plagued the Heat’s chances at success early on in the year, but since then, they have figured things out. 

Miami is currently tied for the 4-seed in the Eastern Conference and after just acquiring Victor Oladipo at the trade deadline, this team has reloaded to make another potential run in the postseason. Whether or not the Heat find postseason success, they are definitely a team that will look to make a big move in the offseason. 

Victor Oladipo, Trevor Ariza and Nemanja Bjelica are set to become free agents, freeing up about $40M in salaries. Over half of that will go towards Bam Adebayo’s contract-extension that goes into effect next season, as he is set to make $28.1M next season, but the rest of that could potentially go towards Miami making a blockbuster move this offseason. 

There have been some rumors about Kawhi Leonard being linked to the Miami Heat and while these are just rumors, it definitely is something intriguing to watch. Leonard has a player option for next season and there is a lot of speculation that he may opt out, giving the Heat a really strong chance to potentially pursue him. 

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They have not been shy about pursuing big name players in the past and if they are somehow able to convince Kawhi to leave Los Angeles, the Miami Heat could suddenly become not just the favorites in the Eastern Conference, but the entire NBA. 

Whether they pursue Leonard or someone else, the Miami Heat are definitely primed to make some kind of a big move in the offseason, especially since Oladipo is set to become a free agent.