It has been a week since LeBron James decided elsewhere was better.

So instead of signing up with the Heat’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, it’s off to the 76ers and Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid.

At 24 seasons in, the right to chase rings has been earned.

As, to the chagrin of some, was the right to hold up NBA free agency.

So where did the decision (we’ll keep it lowercase this time around) leave the Heat?

With every right to still feel darn good about their offseason.

Because they got the best player to have switched teams this offseason.

This isn’t the NFL, where 22 start, let alone special teams, which can mitigate the impact of a Myles Garrett going to the Rams, an A.J. Brown going to the Patriots, or a Dexter Lawrence going to the Bengals.

This is high-usage Giannis Antetokounmpo in a sport where only five play at a time. The impact of one in the NBA is unlike any other team sport (save, perhaps, for Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi, who is in a league of his own).

Those doubting the Heat because of what they don’t have are moving way too far off script. This is a league where it’s all about who you do have.

Over the past 10 years, NBA teams have won championships starting Josh Hart, Lu Dort, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Otto Porter, P.J. Tucker, Danny Green and Zaza Pachulia.

Not everyone has to be a star or an All-Star.

The Heat, at the moment, will be augmenting Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo in their opening lineup with Andrew Wiggins and Davion Mitchell, as well as whatever their remaining cash under their hard cap can fetch.

From there, there are the proven reserve boosts of Bobby Portis, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Simone Fontecchio, the reliability of Pelle Larsson and Dru Smith, the hope of Nikola Jovic, Myron Gardner and Ryan Conwell.

So the sky is not falling.

With more top-two talent (i.e., 40% of the starting lineup) in Antetokounmpo and Adebayo than the Heat have had since the 2014 end of the Big Three era of LeBron, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh (with all due respect to what Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic briefly had in 2019-20).

Would LeBron have eased the path forward? Certainly, as the 76ers recognized.

But there also is the trump card of Erik Spoelstra.

With this the moment when you play the card of having the coach with the second highest salary in the league behind only the Warriors’ Steve Kerr.

At some point, that also has to come into play.

And, to his credit, Spoelstra’s approach has long been to bring it on.

“It all can look good on paper, and then you’re going to have to go through the process of working it out. I love that part of the process, and I love it when it’s not all smooth,” Spoelstra said of the jagged edges of what he next gets to work with.

“I think we have like-minded pros that have this overarching goal to do something special. If you have that, then you’ll be able to work through all the nuances.”

For years, where others have seen voids with Heat rosters, Spoelstra has seen opportunities seized by the likes of Duncan Robinson, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent and others who have contributed to Heat runs to the NBA Finals.

The Heat weren’t good enough in 2020 ... and they made the NBA Finals.

The Heat weren’t good enough in 2023 ... and they made the NBA Finals.

“We have enough” has become ubiquitous among coaches to the point of ringing hollow.

Yet as you stand alongside at game-day shootarounds on the road, the days when the Heat clearly don’t have enough available, Spoelstra offers those three words with the conviction of a coach about to cook up something special.

That is how he sounded on the day the Heat introduced Antetokounmpo and Portis, while also addressing the addition of Hardaway Jr.

An energized Erik Spoelstra is the trump card, the way to make sense of a roster that some insist doesn’t make enough sense.

Two months remain before training camp for Pat Riley, Andy Elisburg and the cash of the Arisons to make this an even better fit.

But two months also remain for Spoelstra to cook up something with the ingredients already in place.

Doubt a Spoelstra recipe for success at your own peril.

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