Miami Heat potential team for Kevin Durant or Giannis Antetokounmpo, but at what cost? (2025)

Bam Adebayo has played all 645 of his NBA career games, counting playoffs, for the Miami Heat over the course of eight seasons.

What happened Monday, April 28, was not only a first for him, but for a franchise that has won three NBA championships.

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The Cleveland Cavaliers train-wrecked the Heat by 55 points, 138-83, in Game 4 in Miami in the first round to mark the largest margin of victory to clinch a series in NBA playoff history.

Adebayo didn’t need to check with team president Pat Riley to provide an offseason forecast for the Heat.

“It's going to be a lot of changes this summer,” Adebayo said after Game 4. “Just from my point of view, understanding how the guy with the silver hair works.”

Will one change involve superstar Kevin Durant? Miami reportedly was involved in trade talks with the Phoenix Suns about Durant before the 2025 trade deadline.

Those conversations may very well be revisited, but ESPN’s Bobby Marks sees the Heat as a latter option to land, say, Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo or Durant in a trade this summer compared to other teams that could offer more.

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“I think either player is going to be a challenge,” Marks said on ESPN’s NBA Today April 29. “I think they’re probably going to be in the back of the line of teams that have more available. We’re maybe talking about Houston as one of those teams that has young players and draft picks.”

More: Do Rockets top Warriors with Kevin Durant as closer? Trade win-win for Phoenix Suns, Houston

Marks was reacting to former NBA player Danny Green suggesting the Heat pursue Antetokounmpo or Durant to fix the Heat, which won just 37 games, finished 10th in the Eastern Conference and came out of the play-in tournament as the eighth seed in the playoffs.

“They don't have much to give, but their best bet is to try to find a big star in the offseason,” Green said. “People talk about Kevin Durant. Giannis really. If the Bucks lose and Giannis wants out.”

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The Indiana Pacers eliminated the Bucks in the first round, winning Game 5 in overtime, 119-118, on April 29 at home. Milwaukee hasn’t won a playoff series in the last three years.

“It doesn’t feel good, man,” Antetokounmpo said after the loss as the Bucks were ahead, 118-111, with 40 seconds left in overtime. “It doesn’t feel good. Just got to look myself in mirror and I just have to be better.”

Antetokounmpo reluctantly addressed his chances of winning a second NBA championship in Milwaukee.

“I’m not going to do this,” he said. “Whatever I say, I know how it’s going to translate. I don’t know, man. I wish I was still playing. I wish I was still competing and going back to Milwaukee (for Game 6). I don’t know.”

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Marks talked about the Heat looking to keep All-Star guard Tyler Herro, rookie center Kel’el Ware and Adebayo, but Green believes they’d have to part with Herro or Adebayo to land Antetokounmpo, whose three-year, $175-million extension starts next season.

The same may hold true for Phoenix, based on ESPN reports the Suns were “seeking significant compensation” from Miami, which looked to move Jimmy Butler, before the trade deadline.

The Golden State Warriors ended up acquiring Butler in a trade and are a win way from advancing to the Western Conference semifinals as a seventh seed.

Golden State holds a 3-1 series lead over the Rockets going into Game 5 on April 30 in Houston.

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Durant is entering the final year of his $194-million deal.

Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Miami Heat not viewed as frontrunner to land Kevin Durant this summer