Southeast Division watch: the Heat reloaded with Giannis, Klay

So here we are. Steph and Draymond are still chugging along, still making a way out of no way, with Jimmy in tow and working his way back. He told everybody at media day his testing numbers are off the charts and he's ahead of schedule , which is exactly what Jimmy would say, and I believe him anyway.

And the man is happy here. You remember how he left Miami. January 2025, after a loss to Indiana , Butler stood at the podium and said the quiet part out loud: "I want to get my joy back." Somebody asked if he could find it in Miami. He gave them two words, "probably not", and a few weeks later he was a Warrior. Bad knee and all, he found joy.

Which makes this Heat summer kind of beautiful, because Miami turned around and became the place other stars go to find theirs. Giannis Antetokounmpo spent a year being dragged through every trade rumor on earth in Milwaukee and finally got out. Klay Thompson took a buyout from Dallas and signed with Miami in late August. Two guys who had soured on where they were, landing in the same building as Bam Adebayo , the one guy who never left. Riley went shopping in the clearance aisle of NBA discontent and came home with a two-time MVP and a four-time champion.