The Sun Sentinel‘s Ira Winderman hinted at the idea that the number of players on the Miami Heat who are in their 30s are balanced out by the youth on the team, as plenty of players are in their 20s as well.
“With Jimmy Butler having turned 35 on Saturday and Josh Richardson having turned 31 on Sunday, I also noted that this season’s Heat roster also features Kevin Love at 36, Alec Burks at 33, Duncan Robinson at 30 and Terry Rozier at 30,” Winderman wrote. “But also keep in mind that of those six tricenarians (yes, I looked it up), only Butler and Rozier (and likely Robinson) are assured regular rotation minutes. And while it is undeniable that Richardson, Butler and Rozier missed considerable time due to injury last season, the Heat also work tirelessly on getting their players in the best possible shape for challenges ahead. So as much as this team can be viewed as a team of tricenarians, also keep in mind the vicenarians (looked that up, too), including Kel’el Ware, 20; Nikola Jovic, 21; Keshad Johnson, 21; Josh Christopher, 22; Jaime Jaquez Jr., 23; Pelle Larsson, 23; Tyler Herro, 24; and Bam Adebayo, 27.”
The Heat seem to have an ideal blend of veterans and youngsters on the team. On the one hand, Miami has players who know what it takes to compete for an NBA title. Butler has reached a pair of NBA Finals since he joined the Heat prior to the 2019-20 campaign, and Love won a title back in 2016 when he was a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Even Rozier — who turned 30 in March — has a wealth of playoff experience from his time playing for the Boston Celtics. He played in the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals, and Boston was led by a rookie Jayson Tatum at the time as Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward were sidelined with injuries.
On the other hand, Miami’s roster is full of talented young players. Herro won’t turn 25 years old until January, yet he is already arguably the Heat’s most gifted offensive player. He averaged 20.8 points on 44.1 percent shooting from the floor and 39.6 percent from 3-point range while contributing 4.5 assists per contest.
Adebayo is years away from his 30th birthday as well, and he is one of the NBA’s most effective defensive players. He has earned five All-Defensive nods through his first seven seasons in the league and made his inaugural appearance on the All-Defensive First Team last season.
The Heat arguably may not have more star players in their 20s outside of Adebayo and Herro right now, but Jaquez is chock-full of potential. He averaged 11.9 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game as a rookie in the 2023-24 regular season. Jaquez also is seemingly open to having more responsibility on the defensive side of the ball ahead of his sophomore season.
Miami’s combination of experience and youth could prove to come in handy for the team at times throughout the upcoming 2024-25 campaign.