7. Miami Heat
As of right now, with the rumor mill gradually churning and team president Pat Riley seemingly making everything his top priority, it’s clear the Heat have some serious decisions to make in free agency.
First, what do they do with Hassan Whiteside? He’s their best young talent, he honed his focus and mental defensive issues a little as the season progressed, and as the NBA’s only player who’s been capable of racking up block-based triple-doubles, are they ready to give him the max deal he’s easily worth in the new market?
With Chris Bosh’s potential retirement due to his health issues (the chance of him staying seems a little better), Whiteside’s importance to anchor the frontcourt rises, prompting Riley to say he’s their top priority (per AJ Neuharth-Keusch of USA Today Sports):
"“He’s obviously, I think, our No. 1 priority. Period. You don’t have to look further than that,” Riley said. “While there might be players out there in free agency, our No. 1 priority is Hassan Whiteside. He’s 26 years old. He’s a game changer. I don’t think he’s even reached his real ceiling in a couple areas of the game …”"
On the other hand, it’s also been reported that pursuing Kevin Durant is actually the Heat’s top priority (per ESPN’s Dan Le Batard):
"“The plan is and always has been: Go after Durant and free everything up, so much so that you insulted your superstar this offseason by telling Dwyane Wade no on multiple years, even though that’s what he wanted… you can sit here and laugh at it all you want, but the plan, the construct is – the priority, the No. 1 thing this offseason – is get in the room with Durant.”"
With the Thunder reaching a scarily dominant peak we haven’t seen before, it’s increasingly unlikely Durant is even considering going anywhere else this summer. That makes the Heat’s choice to hand Whiteside a max easier, but with the need to work out a heavy new contract for Dwyane Wade and handle other free agents like Luol Deng and Joe Johnson, their roster adjustments don’t end with Whiteside.
To address their complete team, the Heat simply need more money than they have (Bosh’s possible retirement would free up some cap space) due to possibly three massive contracts to Whiteside, Bosh and Wade alone. They can’t pay everyone, leaving them under pressure to nail any selective acquisitions they can make to fine-tune the bench.
Thankfully, Riley is a genius in such situations, and will once again need to deliver for the Heat to progress in 2017.
Next: 6. Los Angeles Lakers