The Miami Heat spent the opening week of free agency chasing shooting and shot creation, and on Monday a familiar name dropped back into their lap.
Hours after the Sacramento Kings waived six-time All-Star DeMar DeRozan, Sun Sentinel Heat reporter Ira Winderman identified the veteran scorer as a realistic target for a Miami front office still searching for offense around Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo.
It is a pairing that has been floated so often it has become an offseason ritual in South Florida. This time, though, the pieces line up differently.
DeRozan is on the open market for the first time in two years, the Heat have a clearly defined scoring hole to fill and president Pat Riley has a narrow but genuine path to add a proven bucket-getter. Whether Miami actually closes is another matter, but the interest is neither new nor accidental.
Miami has been on DeRozan’s radar for years
The Heat have circled DeRozan across multiple trade deadlines and free-agency windows, and the pull runs in both directions.
Back in 2024, before he signed with Sacramento, DeRozan said on the record that Miami was a “real, personal, legitimate” option he seriously weighed. That history is a big reason his name resurfaced within hours of his release rather than days later.
The reporting since has only reinforced it. Speaking on a Bleacher Report livestream Monday, NBA insider Jake Fischer said Miami has long registered as a place DeRozan wants to be, noting that he had significant interest in the Heat even before he landed with the Kings.
“Miami’s always been a spot that we know that DeMar DeRozan has had an eye on,” Fischer said.
None of that guarantees a signing. But it does explain why Miami is treated as a logical destination rather than a stretch — the mutual interest predates this offseason, and the roster need that would justify it has only grown sharper.
The Norman Powell-sized hole DeRozan would fill
The vacancy is the whole story. Miami’s most reliable perimeter scorer walked in free agency when Norman Powell agreed to a two-year, $45 million deal with the Chicago Bulls.
Powell was coming off the best stretch of his career, averaging 21.7 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game while shooting 47.0 percent from the floor and 38.0 percent from three in his lone All-Star season with the Heat, even as injuries limited him to 58 games.
Replacing that kind of self-created offense is not simple, and it is exactly the profile DeRozan has built a Hall of Fame-caliber résumé around. He remains one of the most prolific scorers in league history, with more than 26,000 career points, six All-Star nods and three All-NBA selections.
Even in a reduced role last season, he generated efficient half-court offense — the type of shot-making that eases the burden on Antetokounmpo and Adebayo when possessions bog down late in games.
The scoring would not arrive in the same package Powell provided, but the underlying need — a veteran who can manufacture a bucket when the offense stalls — is one DeRozan has answered for the better part of 15 years.
The cap math points to a minimum-money pursuit
This is where the pursuit gets interesting, and where DeRozan’s release actually helps Miami. Because of the way the Antetokounmpo trade was structured, the Heat are operating hard-capped at the first apron, which severely limits how much they can offer any veteran addition.
Miami already spent the bulk of its mid-level exception to add Tim Hardaway Jr., leaving the front office working with a sliver of that exception or, more likely, veteran-minimum contracts.
That would ordinarily price the Heat out of a six-time All-Star. DeRozan’s situation changes the math. He was on an expiring deal worth roughly $25.7 million before Sacramento cut him loose, and Fischer has indicated the veteran’s market could ultimately come down to his willingness to sign for the minimum in pursuit of a contender.
For a player still chasing his first NBA title at 36, a Miami roster fronted by Giannis and Bam is precisely the kind of destination that justifies taking less.
In other words, the one scenario in which the Heat can realistically fit DeRozan is the one now on the table: a minimum-salary bet by a veteran who wants to win more than he wants to be paid.
The fit question Miami can’t ignore
The catch is spacing, and it is a real one. DeRozan is a career 30.2 percent three-point shooter who connected on just 32.0 percent from deep last season. Sliding him alongside two stars in Antetokounmpo and Adebayo who also do not stretch the floor is the concern every skeptic raises first, and it is fair.
The counterargument lives in the rest of his game. DeRozan averaged 18.4 points, 4.1 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game last season while shooting 49.7 percent from the field and 86.8 percent from the free-throw line across 77 games, before a hamstring injury ended his campaign.
That was his fewest points per game since 2012-13, but the efficiency held up, and his mid-range shot-making and foul-drawing remain weapons that do not require spacing to function.
The likeliest answer is a role that sidesteps the worst of the fit problem. Deploy DeRozan primarily as a bench-unit creator and closer — staggered so he rarely shares heavy minutes with both non-shooting stars at once — and the spacing math becomes far more manageable.
Erik Spoelstra has built functional lineups around thornier fits than this. It is a wrinkle to solve, not a dealbreaker.
Toronto looms as competition
Miami will not have a clear runway. DeRozan has recently used social media to hint at interest in a reunion with the Toronto Raptors, the franchise where he became a star and remains beloved.
The timing adds a layer of intrigue: Toronto has brought back Kawhi Leonard, and franchise icon Kyle Lowry is expected to sign a ceremonial one-day contract to retire as a Raptor. A DeRozan return would complete a nostalgic reunion of the group that defined Toronto’s rise.
Importantly, Fischer characterized that interest as coming from DeRozan’s side rather than from a Raptors front office actively pursuing him, which keeps Miami squarely in the conversation. The question becomes whether the emotional pull north outweighs the chance to chase a championship in South Florida.
For Riley, the opening is there. DeRozan is available, the fit — while imperfect — is workable, and the price has fallen into Miami’s narrow range.
After a week spent hunting for offense around a new superstar core, the Heat suddenly have a realistic shot at one of the best scorers still on the board. The next move belongs to DeRozan.
