Trading for Norman Powell without question improves the Miami Heat’s outlook for the 2025-26 season. It also, not coincidentally, doesn’t add any money to next summer’s books—a telltale sign the front office could be angling for a selloff sometime before February’s deadline.

This all changes if the Heat wind up extending Powell upon his arrival. They almost assuredly will not. They telegraphed during Kevin Durant trade negotiations earlier this summer that they’re biding time, assets, and cap space for an even loftier pursuit. Powell just so happens to fit within that endgame while beefing up the immediate rotation.

If anything, his acquisition points toward a more ambitious trade-deadline plan. Even with free agency on the horizon, he is bound to command more value in another deal than either Kyle Anderson or Kevin Love would have garnered next February. His higher salary also, in some ways, allows Miami to explore different avenues.

But this isn’t just about him. The absence of a bigger swing this summer suggests the Heat are more interested in drumming up flexibility for what comes next—whatever that might be.

The Heat are placing clear value on expiring contracts

Though Anderson (non-guaranteed in 2026-27) and Love were expiring contracts themselves, Powell is a larger one, and more likely to yield draft picks in a midseason trade that helps Miami strengthen future packages. Beyond that, rather than bring back Duncan Robinson on a multiyear deal, they sent him to the Detroit Pistons for Simone Fontecchio—another expiring contract.

Terry Rozier, yet another expiring contract, has also largely been kept out of the rumor mill. This is certainly a nod to his complete lack of trade value, but there would be more buzz about the Heat scouring the market for longer-term salary just to unload him if they weren’t bent on maximizing future flexibility.

Davion Mitchell’s fully guaranteed two-year, $24 million deal somewhat flies in the face of this theory. But his salary over each of the next two seasons also comfortably fits inside another team’s non-taxpayer mid-level exception—yet another tidbit that feels like it’s by design rather than a happy accident. His contract also underscores why the Heat are a team to watch at the deadline.

Miami could be gearing up for an epic selloff

Re-upping Mitchell currently leaves Miami on track for sub-$15 million in cap space next summer. But that number will balloon past $40 million if Andrew Wiggins declines his $30.2 million player option. It will mushroom even higher if the Heat show an inclination to move off other salaries.

That includes Mitchell. Figuring out how to parlay his new contract into another expiring deal at the deadline would put Miami on course for $50-plus million in cap space.

Heck, the Heat could also decide to get out of the Tyler Herro business this coming February. That is not the move of a team trying to win, but Miami hasn’t indicated an unflappable commitment to the present. Powell is a rotation upgrade. He’s not someone who entirely flips an organization’s fortunes.

Believe it or not, Herro’s somewhat tricky extension eligibility could be the tell-all for the Heat’s future. If they don’t come to an agreement with him, it infers a willingness to shop him, or at least suggests they remain skeptical of his big-picture value. That will pave the way for him to enter the rumor mill.

Even if he doesn’t, Wiggins is ready and waiting to become the next tell-all. If and when his name crops up inside the speculation factory, it’ll prove beyond a shadow of a doubt the Heat are positioning themselves for a massive swing or two next summer.

Whatever your view of Miami’s intentions to compete in 2025-26, there’s no denying they have slowly, surely, quietly positioned themselves to be a team to watch leading into the February trade deadline—and, frankly, even in the months before then, too.