The Orlando Magic just showed how serious they are about establishing themselves as an Eastern Conference contender by acquiring Desmond Bane. If the Miami Heat want to keep pace with them and a bunch of other teams, they need to swing a Kevin Durant trade more than ever.

So many are painting the East as completely wide-open next season. They’re not entirely off-base. Jayson Tatum’s Achilles injury consigns the Boston Celtics to at least one gap year. Meanwhile, the already-flimsy Milwaukee Bucks will be without Damian Lillard, as he recovers from his own Achilles injury. And this says nothing of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s still (sort of) unresolved future.

At the same time, the Eastern Conference was never going to be a total walk in the mark. The addition of Bane to a Magic rotation with Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, and Jalen Suggs only makes it more difficult for the Heat to hang without making notable changes.

Miami has a lot of competition in the East

Even if the Celtics and Bucks (kind of) punt on next year, Miami is going to be surrounded by steadying and emergent threats.

The Magic won just 41 games last season, but still cobbled together an elite defense, and Bane is going to fix a lot of their offensive issues. There’s no cap on how high they can climb if they remain healthy. Only four teams lost more on-court impact to injuries last season than Orlando, according to BBall Index.

Other teams are due for a significant uptick, too. The Detroit Pistons are on the up-and-up, and have plenty of assets and flexibility to continue improving this summer. There is a lot of room for the Toronto Raptors to get better if they stay healthy, and they’re reportedly in the market for a blockbuster acquisition themselves. The Philadelphia 76ers were a disaster-and-a-half last season. But they become an instant contender if Joel Embiid’s knee(s) can hold up. There’s also no telling what they’ll do with the No. 3 pick.

Oh, and let’s not forget about the elite holdovers. The Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers, and New York Knicks aren’t going anywhere.

All seven of the aforementioned teams will begin next year ahead of Miami in the East’s pecking order (with the exception of maybe Toronto). That number could climb if the Celtics and/or Bucks don’t lean into their projected gap years. Just like that, unless they make any changes, the Heat are right back where they were this past season: the play-in tournament.

The Heat need to make their Kevin Durant decision

Now is the time for Miami to put up or shut up on the Kevin Durant trade front. Jake Fischer name-checked the Heat as one of the frontrunners for his services in his latest dispatch over at The Stein Line. This suggests they remain all-in on acquiring him.

We can debate whether this is the right decision. Durant turns 37 in September, and will be eligible for an extension that pays him an additional $122 million to $124 million through his age-39 season. Mortgaging any chunk of the future for a star entering his twilight is risky business.

That is absolutely a discussion the Heat’s brain trust must have. If they decide against upping the ante in talks, that is perfectly fine. They can power through a gap year, and recalibrate next summer, when they could have $30-plus million in cap space, and perhaps a nifty lottery pick.

But if the Heat’s plan is to remain competitive in a good-not-great-but-still-pretty-deep Eastern Conference, the path forward is clearer than ever. The Magic fired the first massive shot of the offseason by landing Bane. Miami must approach Durant trade talks with the same level of urgency and aggression.