The simple—and properly accurate—read on the Miami Heat is that they need to find a superstar to gain entry into the NBA’s elite tier. How and when they find one, though, is a much more complicated question.

While they’ve kept their options open for future free-agency pursuits, that’s becoming a decreasingly viable strategy for snagging a star. And even if top-tier talents started hitting the open market again, there’s hardly a guarantee they’d buy what the Heat have to sell. The Heat could, of course, try turning to the trade market (especially if Giannis Antetokounmpo ever wanted out of Milwaukee), but they aren’t exactly flush with assets and are relying on the players other teams would seek out.

This is all a long-winded way of saying Miami’s external options of finding a superstar are limited. Or maybe nonexistent, at least for the foreseeable future. Contrary to popular belief, though, that doesn’t have to be the death knell sounding on the franchise’s dreams. The Heat might just have to take this search internal.

Miami’s hopes of adding a star might need to be handled in-house.

For glass-overflowing optimists who see sleeper potential in this team, this roster is sneakily stacked. There may not be a superstar in its ranks just yet, but there are more than a few players offering that type of potential.

Granted, their superstar upside is of the everything-must-break-exactly-right variety, but that’s still different from being hopeless.

For instance, Bam Adebayo is already an elite defender, so a(n admittedly long-waited) offensive leap could push him into the hoops world’s upper class. I wouldn’t suggest Tyler Herro has similar hopes of two-way stardom, but there’s a universe in which his on-ball potency perks up to the point that his scoring, net-shredding and playmaking alone give him an elite-level impact.

Trickle down to the young core, and you might find even higher ceilings (albeit without the same elevated floors).

Nikola Jovic is already a 6’10” perimeter marksman, but his ball skills could make him anything from a jumbo-playmaker to a nightmare-matchup scorer. Kel’el Ware’s blend of shot-blocking and floor-spacing already give him a unique (and coveted) archetype, and that’s without even seeing the strides he’ll make as a scorer. Kasparas Jakucionis could give this group exactly what it needs if he puts a shaky summer behind him and better taps into his massive potential as a shot-creator.

Are all of these players poised to reach the highest heights of their scaling? Almost certainly not. If even one breaks out in that fashion, though, everything immediately changes for the Heat.

Suddenly, they’re not scouring through a shallow free-agent pool in hopes of finding a savior or hoping the next disgruntled star decides they want to single-handedly steer this organization. Instead, they’re in the market for potential finishers, whether that’s a second star to complement the homegrown elite or star role players who support the incumbent foundation.

It’s a long shot, to be clear, but as the Heat are learning, it might already be more promising than free agency, and it could offer up a solution a lot sooner than the trade market would.