The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat competes in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league’s Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The Heat plays their home games at American Airlines Arena and has won three NBA championships. Mourning and Hardaway would eventually lead the Heat to four division titles, prior to their departures in 2001 and 2002, respectively. As a result, the team struggled and entered into a rebuild in time for the 2002–03 season.
Miami Heat Team Salary Range Cap
| Players | Age | Avg. Salary |
| Jimmy Butler | 30 | 35,197,650 |
| Goran Dragic | 33 | 17,000,450 |
| Dion Waiters | 28 | 13,000,000 |
| Kelly Olynyk | 28 | 12,500,000 |
| James Johnson | 32 | 14,431,700 |
| Mayers Leonard | 27 | 10,250,000 |
| Justice Winslow | 23 | 13,000,000 |
| Edrice Adebayo | 22 | 2,966,760 |
| Tyler Herro | 19 | 3,731,220 |
| KZ Okpala | 20 | 1,399,637 |
| Derrick Jones Jr. | 22 | 1,578,979 |
| Duncan Robinson | 25 | 1,030,062 |
| Kendrick Nunn | 24 | 1,028,483 |
| Udonis Haslem | 39 | 2,564,753 |
| Emanuel Terry | 24 | 4,737 |
| Daryl Macon | 24 | – |
| Chris Silva | 23 | – |
Shaquille O’Neal former most valuable NBA Player and Led by Dwyane Wade, Miami advanced to play in the NBA Finals in 2006, and this is when they first claimed their first championship, and head coach was Riley. Two years after the departure of O’Neal, the team declined their rank slowly during the 2000s. After that sacked their head coach Riley after the decline, Erick Spoelstra was replaced in his spot.
In 2010, after creating significant cap space, the Heat partnered Wade with former league MVP LeBron James, and perennial NBA All-Star Chris Bosh, creating the “Big Three”. During their four-year spell together, and under the guise of Spoelstra, James, Wade, and Bosh, they would lead the Heat to the NBA Finals in every season and won two back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013. The trio would all depart by 2016, and the team entered another period of rebuilding. Wade was eventually reacquired in 2018, albeit to retire with the franchise.
The Heat holds the record for the NBA’s third-longest winning streak, 27 straight games, set during the 2012–13 season. Four Hall of Famers has played for Miami, while James has won the NBA MVP Award while playing for the team.
On July 6, 2016, Wade announced that he was leaving the Heat to go join his hometown Chicago Bulls. In September 2016, Bosh suffered numerous setbacks and failed his physical exam with the Heat and was not cleared by the team to participate in training camp. On September 26, 2016, Heat president Riley said that the team doubted about Bosh’s return on the court and viewed his career with the team as over, and noted that the team was no longer working toward his return.
On July 4, 2017, the Heat waived Bosh after the NBA’s ruling on June 2, 2017, which declared that Bosh’s blood clotting issues were a career-ending illness. After waiving Bosh, the team’s president Riley announced that Bosh’s number would be retired in the future out of respect to him and due to his accomplishments with the Heat. On February 8, 2018, the Cleveland Cavaliers traded Dwyane Wade back to the Miami Heat.
