Heat’s Spoelstra Says Team Won’t ‘Focus’ on 2nd Winless NBA Preseason in Team History

Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra isn’t dwelling on the fact that his team went 0-6 during the preseason.

After the Heat lost 141-125 to the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday to close out the preseason with a winless record, Spoelstra told reporters, “We’re not going to focus on what the record was in the preseason. We’ll focus on the sum of the things that were consistent to how we want to play.”

According to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, this year marks only the second time the Heat have failed to win a game during the preseason. The only other instance occurred in 2007, and Miami went on to post a 15-67 record during the regular season.

It seems unlikely that Miami will bottom to that degree in 2025-26, as the team has reached the playoffs in six straight seasons, which is tied for the longest streak in franchise history.

However, the Heat are coming off what was largely a disappointing 2024-25 season, as their 37-45 record was their worst since 2014-15 when they also went 37-45.

Miami finished with the 10th-best record in the Eastern Conference last season, but it managed to advance through the postseason play-in tournament before getting swept out of the first round by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Since reaching the NBA Finals in two out of four seasons, the Heat have experienced back-to-back exits in the first round of the playoffs, raising questions about whether they can compete with the projected top teams in the East, such as the Cavs, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, Atlanta Hawks, Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers.

The Heat are led by a pair of All-Stars in guard Tyler Herro and center Bam Adebayo, and Herro is coming off a career year that saw him average 23.9 points per game.

Herro underwent foot surgery last month, though, and he is expected to miss at least the Heat’s first 12 games.

Perhaps the biggest question surrounding the Heat is whether they have enough in addition to Adebayo to weather the storm until Herro returns.

Some of the players Miami will lean on during that time include newly acquired guard Norman Powell, veteran wing Andrew Wiggins, guards Davion Mitchell and Terry Rozier, wing Jaime Jaquez Jr. and center Kel’el Ware.

The Heat will get their regular season started on Wednesday with a road game against the Magic.

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