The Miami Heat had a tumultuous 2024-25 NBA season, largely due to Jimmy Butler deciding to hold another franchise hostage with a public trade request following a long back-and-forth spat with Pat Riley.
When Butler was ultimately traded to the Golden State Warriors for a package centered around Andrew Wiggins, it brought another champion to South Beach to build around, though Wiggins has seen his name thrown around in trade rumors of late.
According to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald, the Heat are expected to begin the season with Wiggins on the roster.
The Heat are expected to begin next season with Andrew Wiggins on the roster, per @Anthony_Chiang pic.twitter.com/9ajS7zzDug
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) July 12, 2025
The Los Angeles Lakers have surfaced as a team that has been rumored to be interested in Wiggins, but the Lakers don’t have much to offer in trades at this point, nor do they have much cap flexibility to take on the $28.3 million owed to Wiggins in 2025-26.
Wiggins played well for the Heat following the trade, averaging 19 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game for Miami while playing a larger role than he did in Golden State.
Miami currently has an interesting lineup on paper that could be a sneaky contender in an Eastern Conference that saw Damian Lillard, Tyrese Haliburton, and Jayson Tatum all tear their Achilles tendons in the playoffs, leaving the conference wide open next season for new contenders to emerge.
It’s still early in the offseason, and there have already been some massive trades out of the blue, including a recent blockbuster that landed Norman Powell in Miami.
Powell makes sense alongside Wiggins and Tyler Herro to form a quietly dangerous backcourt, and it’s nice to hear that Miami isn’t already interested in breaking that up.
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