The NBA draft lottery was held Sunday at 3 p.m. The Miami Heat's pick was revealed
The Miami Heat received no good fortunes in the NBA Draft Lottery.
It was revealed the Heat gets the No. 13 pick. That is what was expected based on the odds. They had a one percent chance of landing the No. 1 pick and a 4.8 percent chance of being in the top four. Neither happened.
The good news is Heat team president Pat Riley is expecting the pick to get the Heat back into their winning ways through free agency and the draft. They were eliminated by the Charlotte Hornets in the Play-In Tournament. That's not what is expected from a team that has made the NBA Finals twice since 2020.
"When I came here, it was 31 years ago. I have the same attitude as I had in that press conference. I want another parade down Biscayne Boulevard. It may come, it may not. It's always been my desire to win. I would appreciate from all of you to respect of not going down that road. It's not going to happen unless something happens that I can't control."
This was the Heat's first time picking in the lottery since they drafted Tyler Herro out of Kentucky. Herro turned into a one-time NBA All-Star and was named Sixth Man of the Year in 2023.
The Heat had much success in recent draft, taking Kasparas Jakucionis, Kel'el Ware, Jaime Jaquez and Nikola Jovic in the last four years. All four have became key rotation players.
The hope is the Heat do more than just build through the draft. Riley said they plan to be aggressive during the free agency period, which begins July 1. Last year they acquired Norman Powell in the offseason, but the pairing with Herro and Bam Adebayo never materialized. Injuries kept them from playing together most of the season. It resulted in the Heat missing the playoffs for the first time in six years.
But Riley said they now have plenty flexibility to perhaps go after a free agent like Giannis Anteotkounmpo in the summer.
"We finally made a decision it was better to keep our young players, our draft capital and to get [Andrew Wiggins] and [Davion Mitchell], Kyle Anderson and a first, which were four different assets that could complement Tyler, Bam, etc," Riley said. "And then in the summer when we did the Duncan deal, we got a trade exception out of it. We still got it. And we got Norman Powell ... Now we have more flexibility. We got more assets."
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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of HeatRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com