Miami Heat Interested in Trey Lyles, Kai Jones

The Miami Heat are interested in Trey Lyles and Kai Jones, according to NBA insider Grant Afseth of FastbreakJournal.com.

Lyles and Jones are unrestricted free agents. Jones recently worked out with the Heat.

“The Miami Heat are believed to be exploring ways to bolster their frontcourt depth before the start of the 2025–26 season. Trey Lyles and Kai Jones are among various players FastbreakJournal.com sources can confirm have drawn interest this summer,” Afseth wrote.

Lyles played for the Sacramento Kings last season, while Jones was with the Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks.

The Cleveland Cavaliers swept the Heat in the first round of the 2025 playoffs in four games. Miami president Pat Riley has been busy this offseason. He traded Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love to the Utah Jazz, acquired Norman Powell from the Clippers, traded Duncan Robinson to the Detroit Pistons for Simone Fontecchio, traded Haywood Highsmith to the Brooklyn Nets and re-signed Davion Mitchell.

The Heat traded Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors last season after the NBA star requested a trade. Riley and Co. haven’t won a championship since 2013. Miami made the NBA Finals twice during the Butler era, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020 and falling to the Denver Nuggets in 2023.

Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra will likely start Tyler Herro, Powell, Andrew Wiggins, Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware next season. The East is wide open since Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton has already been ruled out for the season and Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum may not play either.

“Let’s start with who’s better. I see six teams for sure: New York, Cleveland, Orlando, Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee. Philadelphia is better if they’re healthy. So I would say the Heat’s a solid play-in team, in the same ballpark as Indiana and potentially better than Boston,” an NBA scout said about the Heat, via The Miami Herald.

“They’re not 10 or 11; they’re more like 7, 8 or 9. It’s around a .500 team. If they won 45, it would be a great year. They’re not bad, but they’re not good. Chicago is mediocre; the Heat is maybe a little better than mediocre. They have three very good NBA players with [Bam] Adebayo, [Tyler] Herro and Powell. We’ll see about [Kel’el] Ware. Andrew Wiggins is meh at this point.”