2024 -25 Miami Heat Preseason Preview

Last season Miami finished with a recored of 46 wins and 36 losses and lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Boston Celtics. The team lead by Jimmy Butler seems to be running out of time. In an eastern conference where the best teams project to have gotten better, this Miami team has been holding steady for some time.

(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

After finishing first in the Eastern Conference in 2022, and competing in the finals in 2023 (after playing in the play in) Miami advanced out of the play in tournament where they lost Jimmy Bulter to injury, and went on to lose in the first round where Terry Rozier was also absent. Jimmy Bulter recently turned 35, and has struggled to stay healthy, playing 52, 57, 64, and 60 games over the last 4 seasons. Additionally Rozier, who the Heat gave up Kyle Lowry and a 1st round pick for last season has missed about 25% of games during the past three seasons.

These injury issues leave the remaining Miami Heat lacking consistency. Last year Miami had 5 players player over 60 games. The only playoff team with fewer was Philadelphia.

Miami will be flirting with the first apron next year, as Jimmy Bulter will make 52.4 million and the only contracts that are expiring are Josh Richardson, Alec Burks, and Thomas Bryant. They also have restrictions on their draft picks for the next 4 years, so any improvements to this roster will likely need to come in the form of player development and getting more minutes out of the players already on the roster.