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The Heat wouldn’t have won the first pick

Originally posted on thePeachBasket | By Eric Labrador | Last updated May 13, 2025 12:16 AM ET

The Heat wouldn’t have won the first pick in the draft. Heat fans worldwide have collectively fainted because the 11th pick in the NBA Draft lottery won the lottery. That pick went to the Dallas Mavericks because the Heat won the play-in tournament. Unfortunately, the Heat played Cleveland in the first round and got swept. Yes, there seems to be some dark cloud over the Heat franchise right now.

Hindsight is 20/20

The 11th pick in the lottery had only a 2% chance of getting the top pick. The lottery has been around since 1985. Through the history, only four times have teams with less than a 2% chance won the first pick (Cleveland, Chicago, Orlando, Charlotte.) So, based on the “space-time continuum” and “parallel universe theory,” any decision by someone splits into many different situations.

Let’s say for a hypothetical, that the Heat team decided “to tank” against Chicago. The team would’ve needed 100% compliance on the part of every player on that decision. Obviously, that wouldn’t have happened. One or two or five players would’ve disagreed. They could’ve leaked to the media that the team tanked. Fans could’ve taken cell phone videos of players tanking with effort. Ticket sales would’ve hurt.

“Hello!? You play to WIN the game”

Dwayne Wade said it best in an appearance on NBA on Clutchpoints. He called out Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo specifically because of Bam’s comment to Cleveland, “You’all don’t want smoke.” Also, Herro commented, “We will not get swept.” Wade showed that the Heat weren’t as good as they thought. The bottom line? The Heat were good enough to beat Chicago and Atlanta, but not Cleveland.

After being abused by Josh Giddey in three regular-season games, I was glad that the Heat suffocated the Bulls into a loss. Giddey had a mediocre game. Against Atlanta, the Heat were 2-2 in the season series. Atlanta beat Miami in 2023 in the first round of the play-in game in Miami. So, as a fan, I was glad to see Miami pay them back.

Conclusions

The Heat wouldn’t have gotten the first pick in the draft if they tanked. The first pick in the draft wouldn’t have miraculously made Miami win 62 games next season. The Heat relied too much on Jimmy Butler in the last five years. Now, the team has an “identity crisis” and needs a star to lead.

This article first appeared on thePeachBasket and was syndicated with permission.

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