Norman Powell thrived to begin his debut season with the Miami Heat, earning his first All-Star selection in his age-32 campaign before injuries and inconsistency got the best of him.
While the score-first wing has expressed a desire to remain in Miami long-term, according to Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes, the franchise may be better off letting its leading scorer “walk away” in free agency.
Norman Powell Predicted To Leave Heat in 2026 NBA Free Agency
Powell has played for four organizations in 11 years, progressing from an athletic, energizing bench slasher to a high-volume scorer. Unlike most players, the 2015 No. 46 pick peaked in his 30s, with his top two scoring seasons coming in the 2024-25 campaign with the Los Angeles Clippers (21.8 points per game) and this year with Miami, when he averaged a team-best 21.7 ppg.
Even so, Powell’s relatively small stature (6-foot-3), defensive limitations, and injury concerns have cast doubt on his free agency outlook.
After seeing his scoring production dip to 17.5 ppg post-All-Star break, the 2019 NBA champion was relegated to a bench role in Miami’s 127-126 season-ending overtime play-in road loss to the Charlotte Hornets. The veteran logged just 11 points as the Heat leaned heavily on star shooting guard Tyler Herro and defensive-minded point guard Davion Mitchell in the backcourt.
Given Powell’s age (33), somewhat one-dimensional skill set, and the lingering possibility of a sudden decline, ESPN’s Bobby Marks anticipates that he’ll warrant a three-year, $65 million contract with a team option in the final season. Such a deal would leave wiggle room for Miami to pursue stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo on the trade market and potentially add some much-needed juice to its Bam Adebayo-led roster.
However, Hughes foresees the Heat letting Powell, who just wrapped up a five-year, $90,000,000 contract, leave in free agency to prioritize future financial flexibility and internal development.
“The Miami Heat have plenty of reasons to let the 33-year-old shooting guard walk away,” Hughes began in his Sunday article titled, “2026 NBA Free Agency Predictions for Every Team.”
“First, they’d probably need to extend Powell’s new deal out multiple years to beat the market. Miami’s broader plans are uncertain and could include a superstar trade, but most fallback options involve preserving cap space for 2027. Committing to Powell’s decline phase wouldn’t make sense in that scenario — not with Tyler Herro playing the same position (with many of the same flaws).
“Perhaps if Andrew Wiggins declines his player option and departs, the Heat would consider Powell more of a retention priority. Even then, though, Miami’s in-house options include Pelle Larsson and Nikola Jović. The latter might one day stay on the floor and make enough 3s to replicate Powell’s production at a different position.
“The Heat landed Powell for virtually nothing last offseason, and he outplayed his $20 million salary for long stretches. Those facts aren’t enough to make him a surefire keeper,” the analyst concluded.
Losing a nightly 20-point scorer coming off a career year for nothing would be a tough pill to swallow. Still, Miami’s core as currently constructed was only good enough for a 10th-place finish (43-39) in a wide-open Eastern Conference.
With teams like Charlotte, the Indiana Pacers, and perhaps even the Washington Wizards poised to take major steps forward in the East next season, re-signing Powell appears unlikely to move the needle, barring a league-altering blockbuster trade.
