Heat happy to add Bobby Portis, and Portis happy to join Heat: ‘I was born to be a Heatle’
The blockbuster deal might be referred to by most as the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade, but the Miami Heat’s acquisition of veteran forward Bobby Portis is still important.
With the Heat trading center Kel’el Ware to the Milwaukee Bucks as part of the package that brought Antetokounmpo and Portis to Miami this offseason, Portis is currently the most experienced and accomplished frontcourt player on the Heat’s roster not named Bam Adebayo or Antetokounmpo. Portis is also currently the most likely candidate to play as Miami’s backup center behind Adebayo.
“Crucial,” Heat president Pat Riley said of the addition of Portis at the start of his introductory news conference Thursday afternoon at Kaseya Center. “It’s crucial to have a player like Bobby that can play with somebody he’s played with for a long time in Giannis, who knows Bam very well.”
Heat coach Erk Spoelstra also endorsed the acquisition of Portis on Thursday.
“Bobby brings a great physicality and an edge to the way he competes,” Spoelstra said. “We respect that a great deal. We think it fits how we view the game and how we compete. But you also have to have versatility in your frontcourt. You can’t just play a specific style for 82 games. But more importantly, when you get into the playoffs, you have to have great versatility. And our frontcourt, we feel like it does that. And Bobby is a big part of that.”
Portis (6-foot-9 and 250 pounds), who is entering his 12th NBA season, averaged 13.7 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game while shooting 48.8% from the field and 45.6% on 4.4 three-point attempts per game in 67 appearances (nine starts) last regular season with the Bucks. He posted the second most double-doubles off the bench in the NBA last regular season with eight such stat lines, behind only Ware’s 10 double-doubles off the bench.
Portis is a floor-spacing big man who has shot better than 40% on threes in three of the last six regular seasons, making 40.9% of his threes on 3.6 three-point shot attempts per game during that six-year span.
Among players taller than 6-foot-7, took at least four three-pointers per game and played in more than 15 games, Portis owned the top three-point shooting percentage in the NBA last regular season.
Portis’ three-point shooting ability makes him a fit alongside either of the Heat’s two best players (Adebayo or Antetokounmpo) in the frontcourt.
“He’s one of the best-shooting bigs in the league,” Spoelstra continued on Portis. “He’s a low-post threat. He always has been. He’s a physical rebounder, like we said. And he’s also crafty in a lot of different pick-and-roll coverages defensively. So we think it fits the versatility, the toughness, something that we wanted to address going into this offseason.”
Although Portis doesn’t generate many shots around the rim, he’s effective in the midrange with nice touch on floaters and turnaround jumpers. Portis shot a solid 46.7% on non-rim two-pointers last season.
“In the league, you have to find a niche, find a role that you can help stay around and help impact winning,” Portis said Thursday, “I think over my career and my career trajectory, I’ve looked at what I can do and where I can fit at. And for me, it’s been coming off the bench and being a guy that gets baskets, rebounds at a high level, competes at a high level, and be that sixth man type of guy on whatever team I’m on. I’m super aggressive. I’m a confident player.
“With me, I’ve always been a guy that comes off the bench, so obviously I’m not ever looking to start. If somebody’s not playing that night and the coach wants to spot-start me, that’s cool. But I’ve always been a guy that comes off the bench, gets baskets, rebound on a high level, and just impacts winning. My role is my role. I am who I am.”
Portis, 31, is due $14.5 million this upcoming season and then has a $15.6 player option for the 2027-28 season.
“It feels great to me, super gratified to say the least,” Portis said of being wanted by the Heat. “I never really had many people say really just great things about me. It’s kind of good to have a coach, a legendary coach like coach Spo and obviously Pat, who’s a legend as well, to want me here. There’s a thing in this league for wanting to be somewhere, for someone wanting you, not just some throw-in piece that people might think. I ain’t that. From Day 1, they’re going to get a competitor. From Day 1, they’re going to get somebody that’s going to go hard.”
The Heat marks the fifth different team that Portis has played for during his NBA career. He played for the Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards and New York Knicks before spending the last six seasons with the Bucks.
Portis will wear No. 95 for the first time in his NBA career with the Heat after wearing No. 9 with the Bucks. Why?
“Obviously, everybody knows I wore No. 9 the last couple years. Came to the team, obviously Pelle [Larsson] has No. 9, so I wanted to pivot to another number,” Portis explained. “Me and my guys was talking about it, and my OG came up with this great idea that I wore No. 9 with the books, and I started out No. 5. You put those together, I was born in 1995. Then we were catching the ride down here, and I looked up, and it said I was going down I-95. It just kind of made sense, and I ran with it.”
Portis, who won an NBA championship with the Bucks in 2021 as Antetokounmpo’s teammate, became a fan favorite in Milwaukee in part because of the emotion, energy and physicality he plays with. “Bobby! Bobby!” chants became a staple at Bucks home whenever Portis made a positive play.
Based on Portis’ introductory news conference on Thursday, he may soon become a Heat fan favorite too.
“I was born to be a Heatle, so it fits right in with me,” said Portis, who revealed that he has been rooting for the Heat since the team won two championships during the Big 3 era. “My favorite team growing up.”
With the Heat set to hold Antetokounmpo’s introductory press conference a few hours after Portis’ on Thursday, Portis made clear he hopes their trade to Miami is the start of another successful era in Heat history.
“Obviously, the conversations I had with Giannis has always been about winning,” Portis said. “Where can we go to win? How can we impact winning? How can we get another chip? That’s always been the talk. It hasn’t been about anything else but winning. Once you guys talk to him, you guys will understand. That’s all he cares about is winning. ... I want to play in June again. I want to play in high-pressure games, high-pressure moments.”
This story was originally published July 16, 2026 at 2:19 PM.
