Team USA feels like ‘we got our guy’ in Heat’s Erik Spoelstra: ‘We are thrilled’
The news became official with USA Basketball’s announcement on Tuesday, but the news conference to introduce Heat coach Erik Spoelstra as the new head coach of Team USA men’s national team through 2028 was held on Thursday at Kaseya Center.
“Coach Spoelstra represents everything we strive to be. So we’re just grateful, thankful, ecstatic to name Erik Spoelstra as the next U.S. Men’s National Team coach,” USA Basketball men’s national team managing director Grant Hill said.
The role will have Spoelstra as Team USA’s head coach for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. Spoelstra will also lead Team USA at the 2027 World Cup in Qatar.
Spoelstra, who turns 55 on Nov. 1, is the first Heat coach to serve as an Olympic head coach.
“I understand the expectations and the responsibility of this position, but I’m thrilled to be the head coach,” said Spoelstra, whose sister and three children were among those in the audience for Thursday‘s news conference.
Spoelstra takes over for Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who stepped away after Team USA won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics to claim a gold medal for the fifth consecutive Olympics. Spoelstra served as an assistant coach on Kerr’s staff for that team.
The Paris Games marked Spoelstra’s first Olympic experience, but his time with Team USA began a few years ago. Spoelstra served as the head coach of Team USA’s Select Team that helped the national team’s main roster prepare for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Hill said there have not yet been any discussions about whether Spoelstra’s tenure as Team USA’s head coach will extend beyond the 2028 Olympics.
“His leadership skills, basketball intellect, ability to connect with people, players, his staff, his ability to collaborate just kind of checked all the boxes,” Hill said of Spoelstra. “I came away even more impressed with him as a coach, as a leader, as a man, as a father, and he’s thrilled. We are thrilled. I mean, we got our guy.”
Spoelstra’s new title as the head coach of the national team is the latest addition to his impressive resume.
Spoelstra, who is currently the NBA’s longest active-tenured head coach, is entering his 18th season as the Heat’s head coach after initially being hired by the organization as its video coordinator in 1995.
The Heat has qualified for the playoffs 14 times in Spoelstra’s 17 seasons at the helm, including in each of the last six seasons. The Heat has also won two NBA championships in 2012 and 2013 with Spoelstra as head coach.
In addition, Spoelstra is already the winningest head coach in franchise history in both the regular season (787 wins) and playoffs (110 wins).
Spoelstra, who ranks 17th on the all-time wins list among NBA head coaches, also holds the third-most wins by a head coach with one team in NBA history behind only Jerry Sloan with the Utah Jazz and Gregg Popovich with the Spurs.
Spoelstra is just the second head coach in NBA history to coach 1,300-plus games with one team, joining only Popovich.
Spoelstra, who is widely regarded as one of the NBA’s top coaches, was also selected in the league’s annual preseason survey of general managers as the best head coach in the NBA for the sixth straight season this year. He was also picked as the NBA head coach who’s “the best manager/motivator of people” in this year’s survey of general managers.
On top of all that, Spoelstra was recognized as one of the 15 greatest coaches in NBA history in 2022.
“There’s a culture with USA Basketball,” Spoelstra emphasized. “And I know there will be thoughts about the culture of the Miami Heat, which we feel strongly about. But the culture of USA Basketball is one of great history.
“It’s a culture of service, where you have the best American players that raise their hand that say I want to volunteer for this and represent our country at the highest level. There’s a culture of a competitive spirit to rise to the challenge and to not shy away from these expectations.... There’s a culture of sacrifice, where when you sign up for this program that it’s not necessarily going to be the role that you had in the NBA even for players or staff alike.”
Spoelstra is under contract with the Heat through the 2031-32 season when he’ll be 61 years old, and the 2031-32 season would also be his 24th season as the Heat’s head coach.
During Thursday’s news conference, the current Heat roster quickly rushed into the room with American flags to celebrate Spoelstra.
“I would never be in this position without the success that we’ve had here at the Miami Heat,” Spoelstra said. “We’ve had so many really good teams. We’ve been able to get to the mountaintop and we are regarded as a winning organization and that’s because of the leadership from Micky Arison and Pat [Riley], and we’ve become beneficiaries of that. So, I’m so grateful for the opportunity of these 30 years to be able to work for the Heat to have this opportunity with USA Basketball.”
ROZIER READY FOR RETURN
After Heat guard Terry Rozier strained his left hamstring during training camp two weeks ago, he’s just been working his way back ever since.
But Rozier returned to practice on Thursday and is expected to be available for Friday’s preseason finale against the Memphis Grizzlies at Kaseya Center (8 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Sun).
“I feel good,” Rozier said after taking part in Thursday’s practice. “Obviously, it’s a long season. We’ve got one more preseason game tomorrow. So, definitely looking to get out there and be with my teammates, get them reps.”
Rozier, 31, doesn’t know what his role will look like when the Heat opens the regular season on Wednesday against the Magic in Orlando. But he just hopes to get an opportunity to prove he deserves playing time after turning in one of the worst seasons of his NBA career last season.
“I don’t know what the guys got in mind,” said Rozier, who’s due $26.6 million this season in the final year of his contract. “I’m just here to play my best basketball and try to help out the younger guys. But that’s all I ask for is a fair opportunity for a chance.”
With Heat starting guard Tyler Herro expected to miss at least the first month of the regular season after undergoing ankle surgery last month, Rozier’s skill set could be needed while Herro is sidelined.
But minutes won’t be easy to come by, as guards Norman Powell, Davion Mitchell and Dru Smith all appear to be ahead of Rozier on the depth chart as the start of the regular season nears. Pelle Larsson and Kasparas Jakucionis are other Heat guards vying for minutes this season.
“Last season was rough, definitely for me,” Rozier said. “So, I had a lot of post-summer just to reflect on what I want to do and what I want to apply to this team.”
Rozier began last season as a Heat starter and was expected to be one of the team’s top offensive players, but he instead completely fell out of the Heat’s rotation toward the end of the season.
Rozier averaged 10.6 points per game on 39.1% shooting from the field and 29.5% shooting from three-point range in 64 appearances last regular season. That’s the fewest points he has averaged and the worst field-goal percentage he has recorded in a season since his fourth NBA season in 2018-19, with Rozier’s three-point percentage his worst for a season since his rookie year in 2015-16.
“I’m ready,” Rozier said. “I just hope I get the equal opportunity, as equal as everybody. But if not, I’m still going to be here and be that voice and be that vet.”
Along with Rozier, Bam Adebayo (right knee contusion), Nikola Jovic (lower back pain), Kel’el Ware (big toenail removed) and Ethan Thompson (low back contusion) were able to practice on Thursday.
The only Heat players who didn’t practice Thursday were Herro and Jakucionis (right groin strain).
“It’ll be good just to get my wind up and get the reps,” Rozier said of the possibility of playing in the Heat’s preseason finale on Friday. “That’s all I’m worried about. I don’t care about nothing else.”
ROSTER MOVE
The Heat made another roster move on Thursday, waiving forward Steve Settle III from his Exhibit 10 contract to sign guard Bez Mbeng to an Exhibit 10 deal.
Mbeng, 22, went undrafted this year out of Yale. He was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year three times during his four-year career at Yale.
The Heat’s roster remains at the preseason maximum of 21 players, but cuts must be made in the coming days to get to a maximum total of 18 players (15 on standard contracts and three on two-way contracts) by the start of the regular season.
This story was originally published October 16, 2025 at 5:00 PM.
