The Miami Heat have been one of the league’s biggest underdogs in the early stages of the 2025-26 NBA campaign.
Despite the lack of a legitimate superstar and the fact that key players like Tyler Herro, Bam Adebayo and Norman Powell have been sidelined at times, Miami owns the No. 4 seed in the East with a 14-8 record. If the season ended today, the team would have home-court advantage in the opening round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs.
Amid the Heat’s surprising success, team legend Alonzo Mourning, who now serves as the team’s vice president of player programs and development, spoke about Miami’s hopes, saying the team pretty much controls its own destiny as long as it avoids the injury bug.
“It doesn’t surprise me,” Mourning said Forbes. “Under Erik Spoelstra, he’s the best coach in the NBA. He made a huge adjustment this summer, bringing in Norman Powell has helped us tremendously. Obviously, we didn’t realize the impact he would have right away, the way he’s playing for us.
“The long and short of it is, you know, we pretty much control our destiny if we stay healthy, God willing. If we stay healthy, I don’t think anything but good things will develop from that.”
If the level Miami has been playing at this season is anything to go by, a deep playoff run could be in the cards for the team.
The Heat have played solid basketball on both ends of the floor, ranking fifth in the NBA in defensive rating while using a new look to inject life into their offense. They have already picked up a few wins against some of the NBA’s heavyweights, such as the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Eastern Conference is also far from the toughest it’s ever been and feels pretty wide open. The top two seeds in the conference right now belong to the Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors, and both of these teams are very unproven and haven’t won a single playoff game in a long time.
Not only that, but strong contenders from previous years like the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers are dealing with injuries and have taken a step back as a result.
However, as Mourning suggested, the Heat need a relatively clean slate of health if they’re going to make a deep playoff run, and many of their best players have been in and out of the lineup. Let’s hope Miami’s injury luck gets a lot better as the season progresses.