In the two-game stretch following the All-Star break, the Miami Heat finally enjoyed something they have rarely seen all season — nearly perfect rotational availability — with the lone exception being guard Davion Mitchell, who missed Saturday night’s matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies due to injury.

For a team that has spent months battling inconsistency, injuries, and shifting lineups, the sense of stability over this brief span has been refreshing, allowing head coach Erik Spoelstra to experiment with concepts he simply could not test earlier in the year.

Spoelstra has long emphasized that the Heat’s best basketball emerges when the roster is healthy, and these two games have validated that belief, highlighting how cohesiveness strengthens execution, sharpens spacing, and elevates the performance of Miami’s top-end talent.

More healthy bodies have created more defined offensive roles, which in turn have given Miami’s stars cleaner reads and better opportunities, especially as defenders become more cautious about helping off the Heat’s respected perimeter threats.

One of the clearest examples came during the Grizzlies game, when Memphis repeatedly doubled — and occasionally tripled — Bam Adebayo on his post touches, forcing him to make rapid decisions while Miami’s shooters remained spaced along the arc.

Watching Adebayo face aggressive traps while Tyler Herro and Norman Powell stood ready on the perimeter created an unmistakable luxury, because neither defender was willing to leave those two scorers unguarded for even a moment.

With Adebayo being blitzed and Herro and Powell demanding defensive attention, the natural question becomes: who benefits the most from those distortions in defensive structure?

The answer — evident not only on film but also in Spoelstra’s postgame comments — is Andrew Wiggins, who has thrived in the gaps created by Miami’s healthier lineup and improved overall rhythm.

When asked about the sentiment that Wiggins’ game rises more than anyone else’s when the Heat are fully available, Spoelstra did not hesitate, calling Wiggins “one of the more underrated two-way players in the league.”

Spoelstra elaborated extensively on the idea, emphasizing that Wiggins’ combination of athleticism, defensive versatility, and ability to flow within Miami’s system makes him uniquely positioned to capitalize when opposing defenses become overly occupied with slowing Adebayo, Herro, and Powell.

The Heat coach praised Wiggins’ recent defensive stretch, pointing to his on-ball intensity, his improved discipline, and the way he has used his length to disrupt perimeter scorers while still rotating effectively as a help defender.

But Spoelstra also acknowledged the offensive component, explaining that Wiggins fits naturally into the Heat’s style, which rewards players who excel in movement, timing, and opportunistic scoring rather than constant on-ball creation.

“He’s a guy that fits into the way that we play,” Spoelstra said. “It’s a fine line because you can also get lost a little bit, but I think he’s just more of a play-off-others guy within the flow of the game.”

Spoelstra continued by warning against underutilizing Wiggins, adding that Miami does not want him to go too many possessions without touches or chances to be aggressive, as rhythm remains an essential factor for his offensive efficiency.

“He’s a great player when he can play off other things that are happening, and he can just finish some plays rather than create,” Spoelstra concluded. “And that’s what happened tonight.”

4

When Wiggins settles into the fourth offensive option behind Adebayo, Herro, and Powell, something unexpected happens — his usage actually rises, because defenses lose track of him amid the chaos created by Miami’s primary scoring threats.

Defenders preoccupied with Herro’s shooting gravity, Powell’s dribble penetration, or Adebayo’s interior presence often forget to account for Wiggins’ sharp cuts, baseline dives, and transition bursts, giving him easier scoring lanes than he has seen all year.

That increased freedom was on full display Saturday night, as Wiggins delivered one of his best performances of the season, finishing with 28 points on an incredibly efficient 9-for-10 shooting performance while knocking down all four of his three-point attempts.

Wiggins’ ability to exploit defensive gaps has become one of Miami’s most valuable secondary offensive weapons, especially when opponents aggressively collapse on Adebayo, which forces rotations and opens windows for opportunistic scorers.

When asked about the idea that Wiggins is benefiting most from a healthy roster, Powell offered a different angle, shifting the credit toward the gravitational force Adebayo commands whenever he touches the ball in the post or elbow area.

Powell explained that Adebayo’s ability to draw multiple defenders allows Miami to swing the ball across the floor, forcing chaotic closeouts that give Wiggins the option to shoot immediately, drive past overextended defenders, or work mismatches in the post.

“Like tonight, Bam drawing that attention, having three guys, now he’s the recipient of that,” Powell said. “Now we’re skipping the ball across court, now they’re closing out, and he can shoot, he can drive, he can put them in the post.”

This dynamic has helped redefine Wiggins’ offensive profile, providing him with cleaner catch-and-shoot looks, simpler reads, and more opportunities to leverage his athleticism without needing to initiate possessions or carry a heavy shot-creation burden.

The Heat have long believed that Wiggins flourishes most when he plays freely, without excessive structure or responsibility, and this recent stretch of health has given him exactly that — space, matchups, and rhythm.

As Miami looks ahead to the remainder of the season, the primary focus becomes maintaining this level of availability, because consistent rotations and healthier lineups create cascading benefits across the roster.

Herro will get his touches, Powell will get his drives, and Adebayo will continue being the offensive hub who manipulates defenses with his skill, passing, and physicality — but Wiggins now has a clearly defined pathway to join that production consistently.

If the Heat can preserve this version of their roster — healthy, balanced, and connected — Wiggins’ resurgence could evolve from a short-term spark into a sustainable component of Miami’s long-term competitive blueprint.

In a season filled with adversity, inconsistency, and roster instability, the Heat may finally be discovering the version of themselves they envisioned months ago, and Wiggins is emerging as one of the biggest benefactors of that long-awaited transformation.