Dave Hyde: Tankers beware! Riley's classic way to reconstruct the Heat (and save the NBA from itself?).

Dave Hyde, South Florida Sun Sentinel on Apr 28, 2026

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MIAMI — Pat Riley is not retiring, resigning or — here’s the relevant point — retreating.

Did anyone expect that from him?

Nor is he tanking, backtracking or — again, the timely point — changing.

For some reason, there was some question entering Monday’s annual State of Riley address whether the Miami Heat president, at 81, had lost some of his bite. This lion of winter answered in a roaring, 10-minute monologue to open his news conference.

He’s staying. He’s plotting. And …

“I’m really pissed; I’m disappointed, disgruntled,’’ he said. “Just like everyone else in the organization is that understands what we’re about. We’re about winning and about disappointment.”

A younger Riley famously phrased it as “winning and misery.” But he’s older now, if you haven’t heard. He’s so much a classic, in fact, the other, odd question becomes if his way still works in a league where the two best teams, Oklahoma City and San Antonio, tanked their way to top and another quarter of the league copied them in throwing away this season.

“I’m not going to tank,’’ Riley said. “We’re not going to lose. We’re not going to go into the lottery and do that insanity, because I will quit if I ever get ordered to go down that road.”

That’s the noble and righteous and the principled path sports should walk. Are you kidding? The mere mention of tanking should make Heat fans break out in hives. This franchise could disappear from South Florida for years and still not be assured of winning anything.

But the issue isn’t if tanking is an anathema to any moral sports fan. It’s if Riley can make the old way work in the new world. Can he assemble a contending team without having a top-10 draft pick on the roster — or tanking his way to get one?

This isn’t about age or ego. This is about a legendary outlier in today’s NBA, the front-office head betting he doesn’t have to lose big to win big. NBA commissioner Adam Silver should get on his knees each night and pray Riley succeeds. It would show an alternative route than all this losing.

Go ahead. Name another team that succeeded over the past decade like the Heat is attempting. All the contenders have lost enough to get a top-10 pick or three. The only team you can sort-of name is Denver, which lucked into center Nikola Jokic in the second round. Is luck a blueprint?

Markets like San Antonio and Oklahoma City aren’t South Florida. That means they can tank for seven years, as San Antonio did in the standings, and one-team-town fans will show up. It also means that’s their only way to do it compared to Miami

“A lot of players want to play here,” Riley said

There’s one obvious way for the Heat to succeed this offseason. It’s a well-trodden path they’ve been down for a while: Trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Kawhi Leonard is a backup idea; Ja Morant is a desperate dart at the board. Giannis was the first option this past season and remains the only option who checks all the necessary boxes this season: A marquee name, an MVP game, a player who can lift a team to a championship.

Plus, there’s a fit into this franchise’s mindset. Take his games played.

“That’s the first thing I look at,’’ Riley said.

Load management, like tanking, isn’t the Heat Way. Giannis has suffered a couple of untimely injuries in the playoffs, including one against the Heat in 2023 that opened their avenue to the NBA Finals. He played just 36 games this year, in part because the Bucks held him out the final weeks to, yep, finish their tank.

But here are Giannis’s game totals the other years: 77, 81, 80, 80, 75, 72, 63, 61, 67, 63, 73, 67. That’s a golden stat sheet in today’s era. It reflects the kind of standards that Riley loves and the Heat espouse.

Would a Heat package of Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and three first-round picks get Giannis from Milwaukee? It wasn’t enough at the trade deadline. We’ll see if some version of it is enough this summer.

Don’t doubt Riley and the Heat’s ability to swing for the fences. They were in similar, dead-end position in 2019 and traded for Jimmy Butler. He led them to two NBA Finals. There’s no need to repeat the big moves for LeBron James and Chris Bosh, Shaquille O’Neal or Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway.

The only question is if Riley can do it again.

“I want another parade down Biscayne Boulevard,’’ he said. “It may come. It may not. Whatever, but it’s always been my desire to win.”

He’s not retreating — nor should he.

He’s not tanking — bless him.

But he is the outlier trying to build a champion the old-fashioned way with smarts and constructed deals rather than flat-out losing. It’s noble. Silver should be his biggest fan. But can Riley and the Heat get it done in today’s NBA?

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