This time, there was no selling involved when it came to Norman Powell arriving in this week’s trade from the Los Angeles Clippers.
But that doesn’t mean the worldwide Wade influence didn’t have an impact.
As Powell explained this week, just as Butler had half a decade earlier, it was as if the Heat were meant to be.
“It’s amazing, honestly still crazy to me,” Powell said when asked about Wade’s influence on his career and how a chance meeting with the Heat icon served as precursor to the trade. “I actually saw him when I was in Europe and in Cannes for Sport Beach. So I go to talk to him a little bit.”
The conversation at the sports-marketing event in mid-June came two and a half weeks before Wade’s former team became Powell’s current team.
Norman Powell discussed his Miami Heat arrival during a video call with media this week.Powell was acquired Monday from the Los Angeles Clippers in the three-team trade that sent the Heat’s Kevin Love and Kyle Anderson to the Utah Jazz, a team in which Wade holds a small ownership stake.
Wade had been somewhat critical of the lack of Heat personnel moves in recent years, with Butler this past season dealt to the Golden State Warriors in February, after helping lead the Heat to NBA Finals in 2020 and ’23 following his 2019 sign-and-trade free agency move from the Philadelphia 76ers.
But when it came to the Powell acquisition, Wade posted on Instagram, “That’s my guy.”
That, too, was meaningful to Powell.
“I mean, knowing that having a guy that you’ve like modeled your game after, playing style, being able to attack, being that 6-3,” Powell said of Wade’s appreciation. “I’ve talked about it on podcasts and interviews before, how I’ve taken the mentality of Kobe (Bryant) and just the approach of sacrifice and putting in hourless amounts of time on your game and your craft and then taking that skill set.
“And D-Wade, obviously putting my own twist to it, but taking moves and different things from him and putting it into my game and talking to him and seeing how he watches my game and knows my game and he’s proud of me and what I’ve been able to do and accomplish that he was a motivating factor in my basketball career, and then literally two and a half weeks later I get traded to the Heat.”
Powell said he texted Wade after the “my guy” Instagram post.
“And he was excited about it,” Powell said. “So I think this will be good, especially now, playing for this team and organization.”
New role
The Heat will now have a connection in high places in the league office, with former Heat forward James Jones named NBA executive vice president.
Jones, who had been demoted from his lead personnel role with the Phoenix Suns after this past season, takes over in the NBA office in the role previously held by Joe Dumars, who now is in charge of New Orleans Pelicans personnel.
Per the NBA, “Jones will oversee all Basketball Operations matters for the NBA, including the development of playing rules and interpretations, conduct and discipline, and policies and procedures relating to the operation of games. He will engage with players, coaches, team executives and referees on the state of the game, style of play and playing rules issues.”
Jones, 44, was a 2003 second-round pick out of the University of Miami, playing for the Heat from 2008 to 2014, sharing in the Heat’s 2012 and ’13 championships.
Cup draw
The Heat were drawn into an opening-round pool with the New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Charlotte Hornets at Milwaukee Bucks for the 2025 NBA Cup, the league’s third go-round with an in-season tournament.
Each of those four games also will count in the regular-season standings. The Cup games will be played from Oct. 31 through Nov. 28, with the dates to be announced later this summer as part of the NBA’s 2025-26 schedule release.
The Cup games this season will move to Prime as part of the league’s new television package.