After landing Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Miami Heat look to dominate. However, there are a few rosters who stand between Pat Riley’s squad and Eastern Conference supremacy.
The NBA offseason is officially wrapped up as training camps and the preseason are both underway this week. The Miami Heat had a phenomenal offseason coming off a pretty mediocre last couple of seasons. Last year, Miami finished with a 43-39 record and qualified for the play-in tournament but were quickly eliminated by the Charlotte Hornets. The Heat missed the playoffs for the first time since 2019. There were some bright spots, such as the emergence of Norman Powell as an All-Star and Bam Adebayo's historic 83-point performance but this needed to be an offseason where Pat Riley switched things up and he absolutely did by adding one of the NBA's most prized superstars, Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Heat added a bunch of veterans to complement him and now, they're being viewed as one of the top dogs in the Eastern Conference. With that out of the way, let's look at three other East teams who should be making things difficult for Miami throughout the season.
1. New York Knicks
Obviously, this would be a joke if the reigning NBA champs were not mentioned. The defending NBA champions, as well as NBA Cup champions, are the current favorites in the East to reclaim the title this season despite multiple teams in the conference improving. Led by Finals MVP Jalen Brunson, the team beat the Spurs in both the NBA Finals and NBA Cup Finals. New York's one big offseason move was replacing Mitchell Robinson, who left for the Boston Celtics, with veteran Andre Drummond as a backup center. The Heat match up against them twice along with a group stage game in NBA Cup play.
2. Philadelphia 76ers
The Heat had a pretty fantastic offseason but one of the biggest stories of the summer was the turn-around of the 76ers. They had the most notable offseason from any team by swapping Paul George for Jaylen Brown and obviously bringing in LeBron James to finish his iconic career. They also improved their bench mightily by signing Dean Wade, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Anfernee Simons. All their offseason moves are primed to make them one of the top teams in the conference, if not the best. Their biggest concern is injury as Joel Embiid has struggled with his knees over the past couple of seasons. They are also a part of the Heat's NBA Cup group.
3. Boston Celtics
Despite the controversial move to swap Brown for George, the Celtics are one of the best-run franchises in the NBA and they still should be a strong contender. Jayson Tatum is back and fully healthy to begin the season whereas he only played the last month of the regular season last year. George, 36, is not the player the 76ers thought they signed in 2024 but he still can play a solid role for a contending team and the Celtics could be that roster. It all really revolves around Tatum and whether or not he can truly take the MVP level leap that many expect he can. Boston has a good group of surrounding veteran talent as well. Don't sleep on the Celtics.
