Miami, FL
Heat finding new landscape in NBA draft preparation, particularly with second round
MIAMI – As the Miami Heat work through the pre-draft process, the team’s front office and scouting staff find themselves working in a new environment on several levels, including one created by the NBA and one by the NCAA.
A significant but minimally mentioned element of the new NBA collective-bargaining agreement is a change that could have an impact on the way business is conducted in the draft’s second round.
Starting this year, a team that purchases a second-round pick, which has stood as a routine element of the process over the years, automatically becomes hard capped for the following season. In essence, the typical flier taken by buying a pick in the second round now comes at a potential impact of the way a team must conduct business over the following 12 months.
While the Heat hold the No. 43 pick in the June 27 second round, maneuvering through the second round this year and going forward could prove more a case of bartering than buying or selling for Heat President Pat Riley and his staff.
“It definitely factors in,” said Adam Simon, the Heat’s vice president of basketball operations and assistant general manager. “and you have to look at the big picture and what business you’re doing. And, so, that’ll come into play.
“But doing something that’s going to hard cap you, you definitely have to take that into consideration.”
For teams further from the hard cap figure than the Heat, it is a twist that creates less trepidation. The Heat currently are not set up to be hard capped for 2024-25, with that salary limit at $189.5 million for 2024-25. The Heat, however, are facing a prospective payroll in excess of $180 million, leaving little wiggle room if they were to be hard-capped. For teams already operating above the 2024-25 hard cap, they now are prohibited from buying such a second-round pick.
“But every team is set up differently within their building,” Simon said. “Some are already there. Some aren’t there.”
Then there is an external factor that will be in play until the NBA’s June 16 withdrawal deadline.
With NCAA name, image, and likeness money keeping prospects in college longer, with such NIL payments now in the millions, domestic talent in the second round no longer may be as youthful or as available.
To Simon, it is a tradeoff nonetheless welcomed.
“I think it’s better for us to have players be more developed when they come to the league,” he said. “And I would like more players who aren’t ready to come to the NBA to be ready. I’d rather develop a player’s skill set that has a skill set.”
As it is, there is no guarantee that the Heat retain the player selected with their No. 15 pick in the first round or that they don’t trade their second-round pick, with the Heat lacking several picks in both rounds in future drafts, potentially opting for replenishment in that regard.
“Obviously my job is to prepare for the draft and make the recommendations to Pat and the organization,” Simon said. “So having picks are a good way to try to help build our team. But those picks have to be used sometimes for other business.
“We’ve used them over the years in trades, to acquire players, to get off of players for different reasons. That’s just the hand that we’re dealt, and we make the best of it. Whatever year we have a pick, we’re excited to use it. And come draft night, who knows what could happen?”
So, for now, the scouting remains focused.
“We are going out to L.A.,” Simon said of this week’s agency workouts. “We are going to see as many players as we can in person.”
Heat second-round machinations in recent years:
2024: Heat hold No. 43 pick.
2023: No second round pick.
2022: No second round pick.
2021: No second-round pick.
2020: No second-round pick.
2019: Acquired rights to No. 32 KZ Okpala in a trade with Phoenix Suns and Indiana Pacers; selected Bol Bol at No. 44 and traded to Denver Nuggets.
2018: No second-round pick.
2017: No second-round pick.
2016: No second-round pick.
2015: Selected Josh Richardson at No. 40.
2014: Selected Semaj Christon at No. 55 and traded to Charlotte Hornets.
2013: Acquired rights to No. 50 James Ennis in a trade with Atlanta Hawks.
2012: Acquired rights to No. 45 Justin Hamilton in a trade with Philadelphia 76ers.
2011: Selected Bojan Bogdanovic at No. 32 and traded to Minnesota Timberwolves for draft rights to Norris Cole.
Once a year, leaders in transportation and trade come together to discuss the “State of the Ports” and what the future holds.
Could a second airport be coming to Miami-Dade?
Last week, the county commission moved forward with studying the possibility, warning that Miami International Airport could reach capacity within the next 15 years.
“We are working through that right now. It is a long process that takes anywhere from 15 to 20 years,” said Ralph Cutie, Director and CEO of Miami International Airport.
As for expanding PortMiami, Director and CEO Hydi Webb says building outward isn’t an option.
“We really can’t build on our island and make it bigger, but what we are doing is building vertically,” Webb said.
These are just some of the discussions highlighted at this year’s “State of the Ports” event, which examines how the industry is adapting to growing demand, population increases, and rising tourism.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava emphasized the need to stay ahead.
“We have to make sure that we stay not only current, but that we get ahead—that’s why we call it ‘future-ready,’” she said.
Cutie says the airport’s Capital Improvement Plan now totals $14 billion. The plan will roll out over the next 15 years to accommodate an estimated 77 million passengers and 4.2 million tons of cargo by 2040.
That includes major upgrades across the airport.
“From replacing all of our passenger loading bridges to upgrading elevators, escalators, moving walkways, and renovating all of our restrooms,” Cutie said.
There are also improvements planned for concourses and terminals.
“We have a new Concourse K under construction—a $750 million project expected to be completed by 2029. Concourse D60, a $1.1 billion project, will break ground in 2027 and be completed by 2030,” he added.
Another major focus is cargo. Cutie says volume has grown for six consecutive years.
“We are finalizing our cargo development master plan, which will add a few million square feet to our cargo facilities,” he said.
At PortMiami, the strategy is similar—grow upward and operate more efficiently.
“We are stacking containers higher with modern infrastructure. We’re also building garages and facilities that can include parking, intermodal areas, and even office space,” Webb said.
She added that future plans could include shifting some operations off-site.
“We are studying the concept of an inland port—looking at what functions we can move off the port, like empty container storage,” Webb explained.
It’s important to note that these projects are expected to be funded through public-private partnerships, not taxpayer dollars, according to Tax Collector Dariel Fernández.
After four weekends without a Formula 1 race, we will soon be back on track with a spectacular event in the United States. As the paddock heads to the second Sprint weekend of the season, there are a number of talking points and unknowns to get stuck into ahead of the trip to Miami.
Upgrades, and lots of ‘em
The Miami Grand Prix has seen some teams bring significant upgrade packages in the past, but it’s a whole new ball game this year.
New regulations mean an increased development rate in the early part of the season, as teams are able to find bigger gains as they explore different directions that have been opened up by the rules.
Where many of the teams might have been aiming to bring their first major updates to the Bahrain Grand Prix, the two scheduled rounds in April being unable to take place has meant more time to develop and manufacture new parts, as well as additional spares before the race weekend in Miami.
The scale of the changes could be massive across the grid, with McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella going as far as describing his team’s efforts as representing a whole new car, and he doesn’t think they’ll be alone.
“In our intent, there was always the idea to deliver a completely new car – especially from a aerodynamic upgrades point of view – for the North American races,” Stella said. “So we could keep up with this plan. Obviously, the fact that the calendar has been changed sort of helped a little bit, like I’m sure helped all the other teams that could work more streamlined towards upgrading the car rather than being busy with racing.
“But I could say overall that across Miami and Canada, we will see an entirely new MCL40… I would like to stress that this is what I would expect of most of our competitors.”
Antonelli’s happy hunting ground
Sometimes it’s a little hard to believe the current championship leader is only in his second season in F1, and even harder to recall the struggles he faced during the European swing of races last year.
Kimi Antonelli had an encouraging start to 2025, but the first headline moments came in Miami and Montreal. Prior to his first podium in Canada, the visit to the Miami International Autodrome saw Antonelli set the fastest time in Sprint Qualifying, and he followed that with a top three Qualifying performance, just 0.067s adrift of pole position.
Given the difficulties he faced with the Mercedes throughout the middle part of last year, Antonelli’s performance in Miami stands out as a particularly strong weekend. Arriving with a nine-point championship lead over George Russell after back-to-back wins from pole position, will he be able to replicate that on his return this year?
Regulation tweaks
This year’s regulations have been a major talking point among drivers and fans alike, and were always designed with mechanisms that could be adjusted if required once there was proven on-track data from race weekends.
With three rounds down in Australia, China and Japan, the unexpected gap in races provided a larger window for discussions to take place among the sport’s key stakeholders – also including the teams, drivers, FIA and power unit manufacturers – about any changes that could address certain aspects of car performance.
Meetings were described by many of those involved as extremely collaborative, and the main outcomes focused on trying to allow drivers to maximise Qualifying performance as well as reducing the likelihood of excessive closing speeds in race conditions.
The changes have been carefully considered and simulated using the data from the opening three events, but Miami will be the first true test of them in race conditions.
Two American teams and a first home race for Cadillac
Miami has quickly become a significant stop on the calendar for the entire field, with multiple teams carrying out additional activations and often running special liveries.
There will likely be a number of designs on display again this year, but two teams get to call it the first of three home races, as Haas return looking to add to a record of just three points – two of them in a Sprint – in the previous four editions. Given the strong form to start the year that sees Haas sitting fourth in the Teams’ Championship, more points will certainly be the target.
While the on-track aims are currently at a different stage to Haas, it will still be a big weekend for Cadillac as they make their debut on home soil. The team are hoping to bring their first upgrade package to Miami, but also feel the support from the American crowd as they continue their maiden season in the sport.
Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas are sure to have a huge amount of backing during the race weekend, as is another member of the Cadillac line-up…
A Sprint weekend and an F2 US debut
It’s not just Cadillac getting to enjoy their first home race in Miami, but their third driver Colton Herta also has an unexpected chance to race in Formula 2 in the United States.
Herta has made the switch from IndyCar and with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia unable to take place in April – they were both set to feature F2 rounds – that has meant the next two North American F1 weekends will host instead. For the first time as either F2 or its previous guise as GP2, the feeder series will be racing on the continent, giving fans a chance to see the next generation racing twice over each weekend.
And speaking of racing twice, that’s exactly what the F1 grid will be doing as both Miami and Montreal are Sprint weekends, providing two opportunities to score points.
Given the length of the gap between races, and the amendments made to the regulations since the last time the teams were on track in Japan, the FIA has opted to extend the only practice session on Friday from its usual one-hour length to run for 90 minutes. It’s sure to be an action-packed weekend.
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