The pursuit of Giannis worth it for Heat (ignore Doc Rivers)
What do you know? The guy who was out-coached thrice when having a 3-1 lead doesn't see the point in Giannis Antetokounmpo joining proven winners. In fairness to him, The Ringer's chief Bill Simmons doesn't see it either, "unless they have other moves coming."
Well, let's not forget that...
1. The Miami Heat will not gut the roster for Giannis, so the committee is going to try to nickel-and-dime the Milwaukee Bucks. So it wouldn't be just Antetokounmpo, Bam Adebayo and some scrubs.
2. Other moves would come within the next three years, their realistic window. They would have more pressure this time to get something done with an eventual Hall-of-Famer in his prime than they did during the Jimmy Butler years.
They made moves during that time, trading for Victor Oladipo and signing Kyle Lowry, with the latter being viewed as a nice off-season move, yet they ended up being duds. Still, bringing in Jae Crowder and Andre Iguodala in 2019-20 helped get them to the Finals.
No one is saying the Heat will be the favorite, but Butler and Adebayo at their best were pretty darn good and did lots of heavy lifting. As much as Butler is one of the great playoff risers in NBA history, Giannis is a superior player and much more so in the regular season. It wouldn't be unrealistic to expect 48 wins instantly in year one, which could grab them the fourth or fifth seed.
Yes, there are concerns
Of course, Giannis needs to be healthy, which is a concern because he only logged 36 games last season, but the previous three he registered 67, 73 and 63. The Milwaukee Bucks were the third and fifth seed in 2023-24 and 2024-25.
He's gotten a little older, but he's not damaged goods, and consider how motivated he would be playing for a new team after all the drama he has been involved in with the Bucks.
Does it count for anything that the Heat put pieces around Alonzo Mourning plus Tim Hardaway, as well as Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal, plus the Big Three? The committee has a history of going for it, and having the one of the top players sometimes means other names try to get over there.
All I'm saying is there is a reason aside from De'Aaron Fox's wife being from San Antonio that he wanted to go there and think no harder than Victor Wembanyama.
Giannis is not a rumor. He's still big time, and him being in Miami would make the Heat relevant. That's all that matters.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/heat/onsi as The pursuit of Giannis worth it for Heat (ignore Doc Rivers).
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This story was originally published June 17, 2026 at 8:45 AM.