The Miami Heat made a bunch of moves this offseason to help them compete in the Eastern Conference, but Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry isn’t impressed.
The Bucks are the defending NBA champions, and Lasry thinks it is between his team and the Brooklyn Nets in the Eastern Conference.
“They’re tough,” Lasry said of Miami in an interview with The Athletic’s Sam Amick and Anthony Slater. “I mean, look, I love Kyle Lowry. I mean I think he is — he’s a great player. He’s just tough. I mean, Jimmy Butler. All the guys they’ve got, they’re really good. It’s going to be tough. And PJ [Tucker] — PJ’s the best. I mean, he just plays super hard all the time. But look, ultimately at the end of the day I’d rather have our team. But still, if we’re healthy, you know we should go pretty far. But I would say the same thing (about other teams). If the Nets are healthy, they should go pretty far. It’s who’s going to be the healthiest when you get there. And it’s been interesting trying to figure out (that part) because I bet you there’s going to be a lot of gaming of this… You want to be the No. 1 seed, but do you want to be the No. 1 seed, or do you want to make sure you’re the healthiest going into the playoffs?”
Miami added Lowry and Tucker (who won the title with the Bucks) this offseason, but the Heat will still have their work cut out for them against the defending champs.
The Bucks swept the Heat in the first round of last season’s playoffs. The Heat got the best of Milwaukee in the 2020 NBA Playoffs, but Milwaukee had the last laugh as it ended up winning a title before this current Heat team.
Still, Miami does have more weapons to compete in the 2021-22 season, and Lasry may think his team is better, but he certainly wouldn’t want another first-round matchup with the Heat in next season’s playoffs.