How will the Heat’s unique offense look with Giannis in it? ‘We just play fast’

Miami Heat admin October 5, 2026 0 Comments

How will the Heat’s unique offense look with Giannis in it? ‘We just play fast’

The Miami Heat’s roster looks very different after adding two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo this past summer. But that doesn’t mean the Heat’s offensive plan is going to change much this season.

After making big offensive changes one year ago to go from one of the slowest teams in the league to the fastest-paced team in the NBA while using the fewest on-ball screens in the league last season, it sounds like Heat coach Erik Spoelstra isn’t done with that unconventional offensive scheme even with Antetokounmpo now at the center of everything Miami does.

“There are things that we did last year that make a lot of sense for Giannis, but also all the guys coming in,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, with the Heat set to hold its annual “Red, White and Pink Game” intrasquad scrimmage on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Kaseya Center. “But we want them also to feel comfortable. We don’t want to reinvent guys. We just want to add.

“There will be certainly some principles that we’ll lean on from last year. In many ways, it was great that we were able to go through that for a season. We learned a lot last year, and we’ll see how it all plays out.”

So far, so good for the Heat’s free-flowing offense, which relied on off-ball movement to create lanes for the most drives and most isolations per 100 possessions in the NBA last season.

The Heat’s offense, now starring Antetokounmpo, looked explosive in Saturday’s 129-105 win over the Toronto Raptors in Quebec City, Canada, to open the preseason.

With the Heat’s rotation regulars playing in Saturday’s first half, Miami totaled 76 points on 22-of-41 (53.7%) shooting from the field, 11-of-23 (47.8%) shooting from three-point range and 21-of-24 (87.5%) shooting from the foul line in the first two quarters. The Heat also played at a speed of 113.5 possessions per 48 minutes in Saturday’s exhibition, which would have gone down as its third-fastest pace game last regular season.

“I think we showed a lot of things that we’ve been working on in camp,” Heat guard Pelle Larsson said after the team’s first of five preseason games. “We scored almost 80 points in the first half, but it still didn’t feel great, which is crazy. It feels like we can keep working on it and get even better.”

With the Heat’s offense often spacing all five players around the three-point line, Antetokounmpo will have plenty of room to operate as one of the most powerful drivers in the NBA. He finished Saturday’s exhibition with nine points on 3-of-3 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 shooting from the foul line, four rebounds and seven assists in just 14 first-half minutes before sitting out the second half.

With the Raptors sending extra defenders at Antetokounmpo every time he drove to the basket, his seven assists on Saturday resulted in seven Heat three-pointers.

But even though the Heat’s offense seems to fit Antetokounmpo’s Hall of Fame skill set, he expects there to be an adjustment period because it’s so different from the offense he was in with the Bucks.

“It’s probably going to take some time for me to get used to it,” Antetokounmpo said of the Heat’s unique offensive scheme. “But one thing that I like is that we will move without the ball. That allows us to have space to open it up and get to our spots. We’ll be able to create an open three or an open middle for somebody else. We just play fast.

“We were playing pick-up the other day and I was the last guy in transition, which is new to me. They were moving, they were flowing. We’re going to get so many easy looks. We’re going to be able to get the scoreboard up to 110, 120. That always gives you a chance to win, and we’re going to guard.”

And Antetokounmpo trusts Spoelstra to make the right adjustments if the Heat’s offense hits a rough patch.

“The one thing about coach Spo, the years that I’ve played against him, he will switch it up,” Antetokounmpo said, with the Heat playing two home preseason games this week against the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday and Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday. “If it doesn’t work, he’s able to adjust to something else. He will fit the offense and our defense to the best of what we can do and try to put us in the best light and try to allow us to play within our strengths.

“So having a coach like that, you don’t worry about nothing. You just worry about your job, and you know that he’s going to have your back, and he’s going to have our offense and defense looking sharp.”

Another Heat newcomer who is bound for the Hall of Fame is also on board with Miami’s offense.

“I love the fact that we play fast,” said three-point shooting guard Klay Thompson, who was added by the Heat this past offseason after he agreed to a buyout with the Dallas Mavericks. “I love the fact that the ball is advanced quickly and that we’re trying to seek out the best shot. Guys are willing to make the extra pass. Guys are willing to cut even though they don’t get the ball just to draw their defender. That’s the type of basketball I’m used to is just selfless, and I think the Heat exemplify that more than any team.”

But while the Heat’s offense averaged the second-most points in the league last season, its efficiency dragged behind. While still a big improvement from finishing with a bottom-10 offensive rating in the three previous seasons, the Heat closed last regular season with the NBA’s 12th-ranked offensive rating.

The Heat struggled at times against the league’s elite defenses, but the hope and belief is the addition of an elite superstar like Antetokounmpo will help in those situations this season.

“It just fits well with the new guys coming in” Larsson says of Spoelstra’s offense. “The system was really good and created a lot of opportunities for a lot of different guys, but we kind of did get stuck a few times doing the same thing over and over. When the defense figured us out, we couldn’t move past it. Now we have a former MVP on our team that is a whole system in itself. You can kind of go back and forth and tie them together. I feel like it’s a missing piece to that system.”

But there will be an adjustment period for Antetokounmpo along the way.

“I’m sure there will be, but it’s not that different when he’s been in attack mode,” Spoelstra said when asked about the learning curve that Antetokounmpo faces. “It doesn’t change what he does. It’s what the other guys are doing. And then some small things when he’s off the ball that wel’ll fine-tune and get him moving the way we move. But I don’t think it’s as dramatic as you might imagine.”

This story was originally published October 5, 2026 at 10:06 AM.