At the time when the Miami Heat traded forward Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors, forward Andrew Wiggins was believed by many to be the crown jewel of the trade package Miami got in return.
When at the top of his game, Wiggins is an impactful two-way player and borderline All-Star talent. However, Heat fans didn’t see that form of Wiggins when it mattered most, as he looked out of sorts offensively in his first playoff stint with the Heat.
Wiggins averaged just 11.5 points per game while shooting 37.2 percent from the floor and 35.0 percent from 3-point range in Miami’s first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2025 NBA Playoffs, and Miami got swept.
Heat insider Ira Winderman was recently asked about the odds of Wiggins sticking around with the Heat, and he hinted that Wiggins’ future with the Heat is up in the air before he’s spent one full season in Miami.
“I would say 50-50, and likely would favor the under at this point, if only because Andrew Wiggins’ contract is in the sweet spot of what is needed to make a trade work,” Winderman wrote. “With Pat Riley talking more about retooling than rebuilding, it would appear that the most likely avenue toward such an approach would be to swap out Andrew’s contract for more of a consistent offensive threat. Such a move also would get the Heat off of Wiggins’ $30 million player option for 2026-27 and the accompanying uncertainty with that salary. At the end, it felt as if Andrew was merely passing through, for a team that ended the season very much in need of a facelift, if not an overhaul. This is not to scapegoat, considering Wiggins’ injuries during his Heat tenure, but more about creating a fresh start.”
The Heat have been stuck in basketball purgatory for a little while now, as since they made a Finals run for the ages as a No. 8 seed in the 2023 NBA Playoffs, they haven’t advanced past the first round of the playoffs. Miami’s time in the 2024 NBA Playoffs ended one-sided fashion, as the team lost to the Boston Celtics in the opening round in a gentleman’s sweep.
However, trading Wiggins might not be the best course of action if the Heat want to get back to contender status in the Eastern Conference. His lackadaisical series against Cleveland notwithstanding, one doesn’t have to go all that far back in time to when he was arguably the second-best player on a championship team.
Wiggins won the only NBA title of his pro career with the Golden State Warriors in 2022, and he ranked fourth on the Warriors in points per game and second in rebounds per contest across 22 contests in the 2022 NBA Playoffs. Heat legend Udonis Haslem has even said that he thinks Wiggins was likely Golden State’s best player during that championship run.
