From the outside perspective, Miami Heat’s infamous “Heat Culture” has a nerve-rattling reputation for players coming into the organization for the first time.
Davion Mitchell is one of the Heat’s newest members, acquired from the Toronto Raptors before the trade deadline. He shared his thoughts about what Heat Culture means to him since he’s a part of the team.
“You hear stories that it’s kind of like the military here,” Mitchell said. “That’s not true, just from the two practices I was here. I don’t know anything about the summer yet and I guess we’ll see. But here, it’s a lot of fun and a lot of joy. You see a lot of people smiling.”
Mitchell spoke about Erik Spoelstra as a significant reason for the positive vibes. He explained Spoelstra does a good job of managing the team and creating a great environment despite the difficulties of being in the league.
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“It’s not always just serious the whole time,” Mitchell continued. “You kinda gotta have fun with this. We play so many games. We travel so much. You’re not with your family. You’re not with the people you love all the time, so you have to make the environment fun. And I think Coach Spo does a really good job with that.”
Mitchell aims to debut on the Heat in tonight’s game against the Boston Celtics.
MIAMI HEAT’S DAVION MITCHELL GIVES INSIGHT FOR HOW ELITE DEFENSE IS WITH NEW ADDITIONS
Despite being ranked ninth in the NBA for defense, the Miami Heat have been inconsistent in getting defensive stops for prolonged game stretches.
These defensive lapses shouldn’t happen much more because of the new defensive additions they acquired before the trade deadline.
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Andrew Wiggins and Kyle Anderson were the main players the Heat received when they traded Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors. Davion Mitchell was a solid addition they made the following day in a trade with the Toronto Raptors. All three are excellent defensive options Erik Spoelstra can use in his schemes.
At the Heat’s introductory press conference, Mitchell discussed how each player’s cooperation with each other could potentially boost the team’s defense.
“I’m excited,” Mitchell said. “You got Bam behind you. Kel’el Ware, I kinda spent some time with him pre-draft. I was at the same gym with him, and I seen how hard he works. You got everyone just playing hard, and that’s just the culture here. Then you have us three, Wiggins and Kyle Anderson, who show some length, can move their feet, and cover for one another. So I’m excited for what we can do.”
HEAT VS NETS TAKEAWAYS: REINFORCEMENTS ARE ON THE WAY AFTER BLOWOUT LOSS
The Miami Heat (25-25) were outscored 31-9 in the fourth quarter as they blew their lead against the Brooklyn Nets (18-34) 102-86.
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Here’s a look at four major takeaways from the matchup:
1. Bam Adebayo was the only Heat player who didn’t struggle offensively.
Adebayo finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, and one assist on 50 percent shooting and 33.3 percent from three-point range. He was the only player on the team who shot above 40 percent. However, he was also plagued by fourth-quarter struggles as he failed to do much to close the game out.
2. Tyler Herro had an extremely inefficient night.
Herro finished with 15 points, four rebounds, and six assists on 27.3 percent shooting and 18.2 percent from three-point range. Outside of the first quarter, where he had four of his six assists, he failed to get in a rhythm for the rest of the game. He also had four turnovers. This was after his previous two games, where Herro had seven and six turnovers.
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3. Terry Rozier led both teams in scoring.
Rozier finished with 20 points, four rebounds, and two assists on 40 percent shooting and 50 percent from three-point range. He started the first half on fire with 15 points on over 50 percent shooting, but he was dreadful in the fourth as all but one of his tough shots failed to fall. He was the second player on the team besides Adebayo to shoot at least 40 percent from the field and the only player to shoot 50 percent from the perimeter. The Heat would’ve been blown out long before the fourth without him.
4. Kel’el Ware showed room for improvement with his rim finishing.
Ware finished with 10 points, 14 rebounds, and four assists on 33.3 percent shooting and missed both of his three-point attempts. Ware failed to convert on any of his layups outside his four dunks, mostly from lob passes. He needs to work on keeping the ball high when he’s in the paint. As soon as he drops the ball towards his waist, defenders collapsed on him all game. Defensively, Ware’s 7-foot size was a deterrent for the Nets in the first half but not much in the second. He finished with one block and one steal.
Bryan Townes is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI. He can be reached at btownesjr@gmail.com or on X @bryantownesjr11. Follow our coverage on Facebook.
The curtain is coming down on Hard Rock Cafe’s Bayside Marketplace location after more than three decades on the downtown waterfront.
The rock ’n’ roll themed restaurant will close its doors August 19 after its lease with the city came to an end and will not be renewed, the Hard Rock confirmed in an email to The Real Deal. A spokesperson for the Hard Rock did not immediately respond to why the lease was not renewed or disclose the square footage and seating capacity.
A spokesperson for the City of Miami-owned Bayside Marketplace said the space will be redeveloped for another concept. The next tenant was not disclosed.
New York-based Ashkenazy Acquisition Corporation holds the ground lease for Bayside Marketplace. A representative for Ashkenazy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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In 2020, Ashkenazy filed an eviction lawsuit against the Hard Rock Cafe alleging over $300,000 in unpaid rent amid the pandemic. The case was dismissed with prejudice in 2022, court records show.
At the time, the lease required the restaurant to pay $500,000 in base rent annually plus a percentage of its sales, according to court records.
More than 100 employees will lose their jobs as a result of the closure, according to a WARN notice filed by the Hard Rock Cafe. The stand alone waterfront building includes a main dining room, mezzanine, patio areas and event spaces.
Founded in 1971, Hard Rock Cafe opened its Miami location in 1993. The restaurant is part of Hard Rock International, which has been owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida since its 2007 acquisition of the company and operates cafes, hotels, casinos and live entertainment venues worldwide, plus naming rights for the Miami Dolphins’ home stadium.
Bayside Marketplace was one of the hardest hit retail centers in South Florida during the pandemic. The Hooters there closed in 2021 and was taken over by sports bar Black Market Miami, the Miami Herald previously reported. Other retailers and restaurants that have closed include Sun & Sea Brazilian Bikinis, Bavaria Haus and Express, which emerged from bankruptcy in 2024.
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The waterfront retail and restaurant hub is heavily reliant on tourists. Margaritaville opened there in 2024, and popular fast-casual Mexican chain Coyo Taco opened this month. Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, Chili’s, Foot Locker and Victoria’s Secret are longtime tenants.
Downtown Miami’s retail market is showing signs of softening, according to Colliers. Retailers in the downtown submarket shed 44,430 square feet of space, and vacancy reached 6.3 percent. Developers remain bullish on the downtown core, with nearly 64,000 square feet of retail space under construction and asking rents averaging $52.50 per square foot.
The Miami Worldcenter has been a major recent driver of much of that retail development and leasing.
Total inventory square footage for the downtown area is more than 3.4 million square feet.
Read more
Bayside Marketplace sues to evict Bubba Gump, Hard Rock Cafe and three other tenants
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Take a look at the new Bayside Marketplace in downtown Miami
SkyRise Miami developer settles lawsuit with theme park company over $1M refund
Bayside Marketplace is planning another high-rise entertainment venue with a view
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — A man is facing new charges connected to the fatal shooting of a teenager in 2019.
Warren Pollock, 25, has been charged with murder and attempted murder in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Rodney Hinds Jr.
According to police, surveillance video captured Pollock shooting into a car parked at the Shell gas station on the corner of Northwest 183rd Street and Eighth Avenue back on Saturday, October 26 of 2019 just before 1 a.m.
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Authorities said new evidence led detectives to Pollock, who was already in custody for an unrelated murder case.
He remains behind bars at the Broward Sheriff’s Office Main Jail on no bond.
🏠 News From Your Neighborhood
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David Dwork
David Dwork joined the WPLG Local 10 News team in August 2019. Born and raised in Miami-Dade County, David has covered South Florida sports since 2007.
It was the blockbuster deal of the NBA offseason: After years of will-he/won’t-he, two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo has been traded to Miami.
It also feels like the first domino of what will be some other big moves — including possibly a Jaylen Brown bidding war and trade. At NBC, we’ve explained the Antetokounmpo trade, named its winners and losers, and broken down how it will impact fantasy teams. Still, the fallout from this trade just keeps coming. Here are some other notes and analysis surrounding Antetokounmpo’s move to Miami.
Jaylen Brown bidding war?
Boston tried to say, “We weren’t shopping Brown, it was only because this was Giannis Antetokounmpo.” Except a few years back, they said the same thing when Brown was rumored to be part of a trade offer for Kevin Durant. From Brown’s perspective, you don’t want to be the person in the relationship where your partner is always looking around for an upgrade.
Other teams are expecting Boston to make Brown available, and there could be a bidding war, something articulated well by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on the network’s “Get Up.”
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“What I expect to happenis a bidding war for Jaylen Brown. In the most recent days, teams have been preparing for this eventuality, that it wouldn’t be the Boston Celtics who won the Giannis sweepstakes and that there would be a Jaylen Brown market. And now we’re going to watch that. I think it’ll take time to play out.”
If Brown becomes available, look for Houston and Atlanta to be at the front of the line for him, with a number of other teams — Portland has said it’s interested — in the mix. The challenge will be matching his salary, which is $57.1 million next season and totals about $183 million over the next three years. Brown is coming off his best season as a pro, averaging 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game.
Boston kept young players out
Why did Milwaukee ultimately choose the Miami offer over Boston? In part because, while Brown would have been the best individual player the Bucks could have gotten in return, they wanted more — specifically a young player like Baylor Scheierman and Hugo Gonzalez, and Boston would not put them in the offer, reports Shams Charania of ESPN.
Boston’s final offer was Brown and two unprotected first-round picks. Milwaukee preferred Miami’s offer… or at least one key person did.
Bucks co-owner Haslam pushed for Miami trade
Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Jimmy Haslam also owns the NFL’s Cleveland Browns — a team that dealt with a trade demand from future Hall of Famer Myles Garrett. Then came the Antetokounmpo saga with the Bucks.
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That led Haslam to push for the “certainty” of the Miami offer because he didn’t want to see Brown come to Milwaukee and force his way out in a couple of years, something Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports reported right after the trade went down.
Report: Haslam a ‘driving force’ in Giannis trade
Mike Florio looks at Jimmy Haslam’s reported role in the blockbuster Giannis Antetokounmpo trade and analyzes Haslam’s involvement as owner of the Cleveland Browns.
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That was a concern of others in the Milwaukee front office, reports Sam Amick and Eric Nehm at The Athletic, who add there had been signs in recent weeks that Brown didn’t really want to land in Milwaukee.
Herro happy
Brown may not have wanted to go to Milwaukee, but Tyler Herro — who is a Milwaukee native — is excited to go home in the trade, reports NBA insider Chris Haynes.
Sources: Tyler Herro is thrilled about a fresh start and playing for his hometown team the Milwaukee Bucks. Herro always envisioned returning home at some point during his NBA career.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 23, 2026
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Except Herro may not be staying in Milwaukee—there are multiple reports that the Bucks are listening to offers to trade him again. At the front of that line may be Detroit, which is looking for shooting and secondary ball-handling to pair with Cade Cunningham, and Herro fits that bill.
Is Anthony Edwards next?
Once one superstar is traded, the insatiable NBA trade rumor machine starts looking for the next star who might be on the move.
Is it about to be Anthony Edwards’ turn in the spotlight? ESPN’s Tim MacMahon said on the latest Hoop Collective Podcast, “The NBA vultures are swirling around Ant in anticipation of him potentially becoming the next superstar who’s available in the trade market.” Multiple reports in recent years have said Edwards has been frustrated with the team building in Minnesota, dating back to when it traded away Karl-Anthony Towns to save money.
This is not happening fast. Minnesota has no intention of trading Edwards right now, and he still has three fully guaranteed years at $156.9 million left on this contract. There is no pressure to move him, and Edwards would deny he is even thinking about leaving.
That said, teams file these kinds of things away and just wait.
