Miami Heat 2023 offseason primer: free agents, trades, draft needs, more

The Miami Heat’s season is now officially over after losing Game 5 of the NBA Finals to the Denver Nuggets, marking a disappointing end to an absolute rollercoaster of a season. Miami’s historic postseason run began with them becoming just the fifth eighth seed to knock out a number one seed.

Then, they beat a surprisingly good New York Knicks team in six games before jumping out to a 3-0 series lead against the Celtics, who had the second-best record in the NBA this season. They then staved off a historic playoff collapse, to become the second eighth seed ever to make the Finals only to lose to the Nuggets.

Even making the NBA Finals is a major accomplishment for a team that underachieved for most of the year, but Miami didn’t make it that far to simply be content with second-best. However, can they improve enough to make it back to the NBA Finals next season and win it all? Here’s a look at their upcoming off-season.

Miami Heat upcoming free agents:

The Heat will enter this summer with several free agents, some of whom Miami may have trouble retaining following their strong postseason play. Miami’s upcoming free agents include:

• Kevin Love (unrestricted free agent)
• Udonis Haslem (unrestricted free agent)
• Max Strus (unrestricted free agent)
• Gabe Vincent (unrestricted free agent)
• Omer Yurtseven (restricted free agent)
• Haywood Highsmith (restricted free agent)
• Cody Zeller (unrestricted free agent)
• Victor Oladipo (has a player option for next season)

With Oladipo likely to miss a sizeable part of next season, he will probably opt into his player option, while we already know that Heat lifer Haslem plans to retire. Recent additions Love and Zeller may return on vet minimum contracts, while Highsmith and Yurtseven will be restricted free agents, giving the Heat the right of first refusal.

Meanwhile, Strus and Vincent, both of whom are key rotation players for the Heat, will be unrestricted free agents and could get nice pay raises, though Miami will have full bird rights for each player.