“Never — I’ve never had a chance to with Pat,” Kuzma began. “But I’ve always admired him. I just admired his just no-nonsense approach when it came to basketball and bein’ professional because that’s me. When I’m off the court, I’m very fun. I’m very — I have all these different passions. But when I step in between the lines of basketball, I’m very, very serious because I love it and it’s important to me. So, I just love what he stands for and when you look at his just tutelage of the sport — resume from the Showtime years up until just building what the Heat culture is — it’s pretty phenomenal.”
Riley has been the team president of the Heat for nearly the last 30 years now, and Miami has won three NBA titles since he’s been at the helm. Keep in mind that the Heat had yet to win a championship before Riley joined the team’s staff.
Miami’s titles came in the years 2006, 2012 and 2013. Plus, the Heat have gotten close to winning their fourth title in franchise history on multiple occasions since the start of this decade.
Riley’s Heat reached the championship series in 2020, but the team lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games. More recently, Miami represented the Eastern Conference in the 2023 NBA Finals, but the squad met its match in the Denver Nuggets, as the Heat lost the best-of-seven series in five games.
With the start of the 2024-25 regular season less than two months away, the Heat appear to be one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference on paper. Miami has a star duo of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo and plenty of productive players to complement them in Tyler Herro, Terry Rozier, Nikola Jovic, Josh Richardson and Duncan Robinson.
But there are question marks surrounding the team’s ability to stay healthy, as several of the Heat’s core players had a hard time staying on the floor last season. Herro was sidelined for nearly half of Miami’s games during the regular season, and Butler, Rozier and Richardson all did not play a single minute in the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
Without the likes of Butler and Rozier, the Heat put together their shortest playoff stint in several years. Miami was eliminated in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs after the team made it to the Eastern Conference Finals or further in the previous two years.
Perhaps one day Kuzma will play for a man that he seemingly has great respect for in Riley.
