The Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers aren’t the rivals that they were in the early 2010s, but they are still teams on similar contending paths right now. Two years ago, the Heat reached the Eastern Conference Finals and the NBA Final while this year, the Pacers made the conference finals themselves.

Yet despite those recent successes, both teams were lower in the Eastern Conference standings last year than those peaks suggest. Even with multiple playoff series wins in recent years, the Pacers finished in sixth in 2024 while the Heat were eighth for a second-straight year. Both teams are trying to figure out how to make their postseason successes become frequent and be a part of the regular season.

The Heat had a tough time taking those steps in the offseason. They’re an expensive group, and they’ve had injury issues the last couple seasons. How does a team like that, with limited resources to get better and new cap rules holding them down, improve while still having the same general core?

The answer is on the margins. Miami couldn’t do what the Cavaliers did and change head coaches. They couldn’t do what the Bucks did and get a bunch of quality minimum salary players. Instead, the Heat opted to make the most of their limited environment. They drafted Kel’el Ware in the middle of the first round, and he was very impressive during summer league play. They added Alec Burks in free agency after he had a great postseason for the New York Knicks and added a few other smaller pieces along the way. But the rest of the team’s major moves were about re-signing their own guys.

Instead for the Heat, their success will come down to their best player(s) being healthy all year. Jimmy Butler, the head of the snake in every way for the Heat, missed a bunch of time last season. He hasn’t played over 65 games in a season since 2017-18. Bam Adebayo is usually rock solid, but he can only do so much without Butler available. Tyler Herro, another one of the Heat’s best players, also missed a ton of time last year, and if he could play more it would also go a long way for Miami. Terry Rozier, their key trade acquisition from last season, also missed time after the Heat grabbed him.

As Miami tried to push and repeat their finals run from 2022, they weren’t able to in a large part because of their health. They just didn’t have the ammo to win every night. That’s why they only won 46 games and had a ton of trouble in the first round with the Boston Celtics.

Yet their off season still looks a little underwhelming, Burks might play off the bench a bit for Miami. Ware looks solid, and maybe he’ll be the backup center. But the Heat didn’t add a ton of talent elsewhere. What does that team look like when it all comes together? Do they actually have enough talent to move up in the East? They were only one win behind the fifth place team last year, and they could very easily have more help. But they’re also getting older, and they also have a lot of guys who clearly aren’t worth their contracts. Will that eventually come to a head for this team?

That is what the Heat are going to have to figure out this season. The Pacers, who finished one win ahead of them and are hoping to see other teams fall out of the playoff race, will be happy that the Heat did not improve by much, if at all, this offseason,

Miami could be a team that Indiana finishes ahead of again as the Pacers try to repeat their success for last year. Until the Heat make a big move, regarding Butler or adding another mega talent to the roster, they won’t be seen as more than what they have been. They look like a team that could win in the mid to high-40s in games and push to try to get out of the play-in. They’re going to be in about the same spot heading into the season.