Heat president Pat Riley is here to stay, and so is Bam Adebayo: ‘I want to build this around Bam’
Miami Heat president Pat Riley spent more than an hour answering questions on various topics during his annual season-ending news conference Monday afternoon.
While a lot still remains up in the air on what’s next for the Heat at the start of an important offseason after missing the playoffs this season for the first time since 2019, two things are clear after Riley’s session with reporters.
Riley, 81, has no plans of retiring as he prepares for his 32nd season with the Heat.
“I’m not going to retire,” Riley said at the start of his news conference that lasted 1 hour and 7 minutes at Kaseya Center. “I’m not going to resign. I’m not going to step aside. When I came here almost 31 years ago, I have the same attitude as I had in that press conference on the [Carnival] Imagination. Period. I want another parade down Biscayne Boulevard. It may come, it may not. But it’s always been my desire to win. Just to win big.”
Second, Heat captain and three-time All-Star center Bam Adebayo is here to stay, too. When asked if he would consider trading Adebayo this offseason as part of a rebuild to collect assets, Riley didn’t hesitate with his answer.
“I want to build this around Bam,” Riley said. “I think [Heat owner Micky Arison] wants the same thing, and [Heat CEO Nick Arison], and [Heat general manager Andy Elisburg], and all of us want to. So I’m just going to give you a flat-out no, I wouldn’t do that.”
But Riley is also aware that Adebayo is frustrated over the Heat’s four-year run in the NBA’s play-in tournament. Not only did Miami miss the playoffs for the first time since 2019 this season, but it also has just one playoff win during the past three seasons.
“I don’t want to be in that s--- no more,” the 28-year-old Adebayo said of the play-in tournament in February. “We’re better than being in the play-in for the last four years.”
After playing in two NBA Finals during his first six seasons in the league but not winning an NBA championship, Adebayo wants more for himself and the Heat than the middling stretch the organization is currently in. The Heat wants more for Adebayo, too.
“I had a great exit interview with Bam, and I sense his frustration,” Rile said. “Just like I sensed Dwyane [Wade’s] frustration, and Shaquille [O’Neal’s] frustration, and [Alonzo Mourning’s] frustration, and all the players that we brought here over the years when we didn’t get what we really wanted. So I don’t blame Bam for being frustrated about what’s happened.
“I had a good conversation with Bam, and he knows that Micky, Nick, myself, everybody that makes decisions in basketball operations are going to try to help him, to try to get somebody to help him. Somebody who’s different.”
Despite entering this offseason with 12 players already under standard contracts for next season, Riley believes the Heat is in prime position to make a big move.
That’s because Miami has two tradeable first-round picks in 2030 and 2032 (three tradeable first-round picks if it agrees to deal its 2026 first-round selection ahead of draft night and make a pick for that team), is expected to have significant room under the luxury tax threshold and the punitive first and second aprons, and has intriguing young players on its roster such as center Kel’el Ware, forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. and guards Pelle Larsson and Kasparas Jakucionis who could serve as attractive trade chips.
The only three players on the Heat’s season-ending standard roster who are set to enter free agency this upcoming summer are Norman Powell (unrestricted free agent), Simone Fontecchio (unrestricted free agent) and Keshad Johnson (restricted free agent). However, Andrew Wiggins can become a free agent this upcoming summer because he has a $30.2 million player option in his contract that he must decide on by June 29.
The Heat also has two trade exceptions that can be used to acquire players without sending money out — a $16.9 million exception from the Duncan Robinson trade with the Detroit Pistons and a $5.6 million exception from the Haywood Highsmith trade with the Brooklyn Nets last offseason. Those exceptions expire July 7 and Aug. 17, respectively.
“We’re just not good enough. We’re not happy with it,” Riley continued. “And I think this is the first time in those three years that we have an opportunity to do something with our roster, with our flexibility, with the players. We know that at the end of this year, what we have in committed contracts. We know what we have in trade exceptions and I don’t think we had that before. So I hope things are different. We’re going to be very aggressive. … I just know we need to make some changes roster wise.”
Riley described his mood as “pissed,” “disappointed” and “disgruntled” after missing the playoffs this season and finishing as the Eastern Conference’s 10th-place team in back-to-back regular seasons. The goal this offseason is to upgrade the roster to qualify for the playoffs without needing to take part in the play-in tournament for the first time since 2022.
One major way the Heat is expected to try to improve its roster this offseason is by again pursuing a trade for disgruntled Milwaukee Bucks two-time NBA MVP and nine-time All-NBA forward Giannis Antetokounmpo this offseason. The Heat tried to trade for Antetokounmpo in February ahead of the NBA’s trade deadline, but the Bucks decided to hold on to him at that point.
“We got a lot of flexibility, so I hope we can help Bam,” Riley continued, with the Heat holding a lottery draft pick this year for the first time since selecting guard Tyler Herro with the 13th overall pick in 2019. “He deserves more help. He just deserves to win more, because he makes such a great effort. So I don’t blame him for being frustrated.”
Since Riley joined the organization in 1995, the Heat has made 24 postseason appearances while making seven trips to the NBA Finals and winning its only three NBA championships. Ahead of his 32nd season with the organization, Riley is putting pressure on himself this offseason to get the Heat’s roster back where it needs to be to add to that accomplished resume.
“I think we feel the need that we should try to make the best move that we can to upgrade with Bam to help, with a different kind of player,” Riley said. “But we’ll try hard to aggressively pursue opportunities in free agency, at the draft. Then you got all summer to work on other parts of your roster. And so I don’t feel the pressure to do that. But I’ll put pressure on myself to go out and try to accomplish something.”
