When it comes to being a strong team in the NBA, it takes more than just superstar talent to win a championship. Role players are just as important as the stars, and sometimes can bring the best out of the team’s top players by helping in other areas. The Miami Heat have had several rotation guys provide key moments over the years.
Whether it was Caleb Martin torching the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals or someone like Gabe Vincent providing valuable postseason minutes, these types of guys can turn out to be real X-factors. However, the business side of the league can sometimes keep guys like this from sticking around long-term. The most recent example of this is Martin’s free-agent departure to join the Philadelphia 76ers.
Some departing players found their way back to the Heat, such as Dwayne Wade back in 2018 and Josh Richardson last summer. Richardson was a key piece on Heat teams in the past, but unfortunately, he was the odd man out in a sign-and-trade that landed Jimmy Butler. After a few seasons and stints on different teams, he signed a year ago for the vet minimum to return.
If the situation makes sense financially and team-fit in terms of a role, Miami has welcomed reunions before. With that being said, there’s still a few former players that the team may never consider bringing back.
Justise Winslow
In the 2015 NBA draft, the Heat took Justise Winslow out of Duke for their first round pick selection. Not only did that pick not work out due to injuries, but the selection was made one spot ahead of budding superstar Devin Booker. It turned out to be a real head scratching decision years later, but it is still unfortunate the way Winslow’s career panned out.
He came into the league with a lot of two-way potential as a perimeter defender and slasher. Winslow provided an impact early on with his defense and ability to hit open shots. His peak came in the 2018-19 season as ‘point Justise’, where coach Erik Spoelstra utilized him as the team’s starting point guard. He displayed encouraging size and length at the position early on until injuries derailed his season.
Similar to his entire Heat tenure, Winslow was never able to defeat the injury bug. It put the front office in a position to have no choice but to pull the plug. Since his Miami days, the availability issues have only gotten worse. Now he is fighting to make an NBA roster again as a member of the Toronto Raptors G-League team.
Kyle Lowry
The Heat made a win-now free agent decision in 2021 by acquiring Kyle Lowry. The team was thrilled to bring a multi-time All-Star and former champion aboard, with title expectations immediately following. It wound up not working out that way, as Lowry’s impact never became what the team expected.
He was a crucial part of the roster in his first season in South Beach, leading the team to the East’s number one seed as the starting point guard. His ability to run the offense at an elite rate provided a great impact. That slowly became the opposite, as age and injuries led to a drastic decline in Lowry’s game.
In the 2022-23 Finals run, Lowry was demoted to a bench spot. He played well in that role, but it wasn’t ideal to have a $30 million player coming off the bench. Now as a member of the Sixers, his declining play can be more justified as a now vet-minimum player on their roster.
His last Heat half-year during this past season saw Lowry go from starter, to bench role to virtually unplayable… while expressing disagreement in Spoelstra’s decision to demote him again.
Victor Oladipo
The most unfortunate situation that has played out for a player on the Heat’s roster is with Victor Oladipo. He showed clear interest in joining Miami for years prior to his arrival at the 2021 trade deadline. When the time finally came, Oladipo was simply unable to stay on the court.
Miami never got the Indiana Pacers version of Oladipo, but he still provided a lot of defensive talent on the perimeter to have a role on the team. Even with a decreased role, he remained shelved due to injuries for most of his Heat tenure. With nonstop rehabilitation for comebacks, his time with the team came to an end after one final knee injury during the 2023 playoffs.
The Heat gave Oladipo plenty of opportunity to battle back from his plagued injury history, but it just didn’t work out. The basketball gods never worked in his favor, and it got to the point where continuously having to work his way back from injury became a liability.
