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Miami Heat owner Micky Arison doesn’t make many public speeches. He prefers to remain in the background and keep the spotlight off himself. But Arison couldn’t avoid the spotlight or a speech in front of a large audience this time, as he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the 2025 class on Saturday night at Symphony Hall in Springfield, Massachusetts. Arison, 76, was selected for the Hall of Fame by the Contributors Committee. “The Hall is the highest honor in basketball, but it’s not something I ever sought,” Arison said at the start of his 10-minute induction speech on Saturday.
Of Mourning, Arison said: “Zo became the foundation of Heat culture. Zo, your work ethic, your toughness became the blueprint for everything we wanted to be. No NBA team has made more playoff appearances than the Miami Heat since Zo arrived in Miami 30 years ago. Zo’s impact has extended beyond the court and he has become a pillar in the South Florida community.” Arison then called Wade “the greatest player in Miami Heat history.” “Dwyane, thank you for the three rings and for giving us so many unforgettable moments,” Arison added. “No matter where life takes you, you’ll always be Heat family.”
Arison took control of the Heat in 1995, helping to build an organization that’s considered one of the NBA’s most successful franchises during over that 30-year stretch. One of the first things Arison did after becoming the Heat’s owner was hire Riley in September 1995, which ended up turning into one of Arison’s top basketball accomplishments. “Our plan was simple. Do right by South Florida and build a winner,” Arison said during his speech. “The first thing I did was join forces with Pat Riley. A proven winner, a champion and one of the greatest winners in NBA history.”
Lauri Markkanen scored 29 points (8/24 FG) to take down Jokic and Serbia, but the hero of the day could also be called Elias Valtonen with eight straight clutch points at the end of the fourth quarter. Nikola Jokic had 33 points (9/13 FG) and eight rebounds for Serbia, but that was not enough. He and Miami Heat forward Nikola Jovic combined for 53 out of Serbia's 86 points in the game.
The last two words are the most important, as Pesic elaborated: “They are the best team in offensive rebounds per tournament, 16 per game, and tonight they got 20. So it’s an opponent that we could not underestimate. We didn’t find a solution for the offensive rebounds, so we lost the game despite Finland shooting 41% and they ended up having 92 points”. Miami Heat forward Nikola Jovic echoed his coach: “We didn’t come to the game ready, it starts from me as the youngest one. I was not ready from the jump. As the coach said, they got 20 offensive rebounds, which is unacceptable. We were prepared well, we watched the film, but they were more physical than us. They simply had more shots. They are more aggressive, more humble, so what else can I say?”.
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Dwyane Wade on Mark Cuban saying 2006 Finals were rigged: Stop saying that
Dwyane Wade: I heard Mark Cuban come out recently and say that he doesn't care. He’s taking it to his grave. 2006 Finals were rigged is what Mark Cuban said. I have probably had one conversation with Mark since then. It was a very cool cordial conversation. I love Mark Cuban from afar. Everything that he has accomplished, everything he's done. But Mark, stop saying that. Mark, we beat y'all. Did we get some foul calls? Everybody gets foul calls. I can go back and point in 2011 during one of them series where Dirk Nowitzki had 48. He had 24 free throws in one of those games. Does that mean that the refs wanted them to win? I don't know. But it wasn't rigged. Like, we still had to play the game. You had a young guy that was becoming a star in the NBA. Did I get a few whistles? Yes. But was I the only one attacking the basket every play? Probably. So, bro, I'm going to get some whistles, too. I'm going to get some calls today. They were fouling. Let's not act like that. You're not about to tarnish the work that I put in as a young guy to do something that not a lot of young guys have done in this game to say it was rigged. Mark, stop that. Y'all got us. We got y'all.
Anthony Chiang: Heat's Nikola Jovic totals 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting from field and 2-of-3 shooting on threes and 1 rebound in Serbia's 95-90 EuroBasket loss to Turkey today. Serbia, considered by many to be the favorite to win the tournament, finishes the group stage with a 4-1 record.
John Gambadoro: This story is fascinating. From what I know from sources - when Kawhi signed with the Clippers the Toronto owner Larry Tannebaum was beside himself because he believed he bent over backwards for Kawhi - including calling three sponsors to meet Kawhi's demand of an extra $15 million in endorsement money. This was brought to the attention of Adam Silver as a concern over the cheating going on in the league being out of control. But no action was taken as it was thought Tannebaum didn't truly understand the rules - only a promise to get more serious about it in the future.
Shaq Wanted to fight Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak before trade to Miami
Shaquille O’Neal: I was eating Frosted Flakes, watching ESPN, listening to what people were saying. And then they said Mitch Kupchak said he will take offers on Shaq. So, I told my agent to call him, and they said, "Hey, you going to want to trade?" So, I got in my police car and I went there, but they wouldn't let me in cuz I was going to f*** Mitch Kupchak up. I’m a cop. I went down there, and actually, the cops were waiting for me like ‘Shaq, we can't let you in’. I was like, I'm just going to go get my stuff. I was going to f*** Kupchak up. I promise you. I promise you. Cuz my thing is I understand the business, but show me a little more respect. Call me and say, "Hey man, we had a good run." Like, "But you do that." I'm sitting there eating Frost Flakes to Little Shareef, and he's looking at me. I'm looking at him like, "Damn, we're getting traded?" I was going to kill that dude.
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On top of that, Nikola Jovic gets to share the floor with the Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic. The Heat forward admits that spending the summer with Jokic is an immense experience. "I learned a lot from him, offensively and defensively," Jovic told BasketNews. "Playing with him is just easy. He's the best player in the world. He knows what he's doing." "If you're in the right spot at the right moment, he'll find you. So it's easy to play with him. He's so smart, so talented that it's really easy to play with him," Jovic added.
Kasparas Jakucionis will be another rookie who will try to find his place in Miami. And, apparently, Jovic knows him pretty well. "I know a lot about his game," Jovic revealed. "I followed him in college because he played with my really good friend Tomislav Ivisic, and that's why I watched his game." Jovic also admitted that he was surprised to see Jakucionis dropping to the 20th pick. "I was really surprised when we drafted him because I really thought he was going to be like a Top 10 pick," he said. "But it's for sure a good pick for us. He's a great player. I haven't really talked to him, but I can't wait to see him play. And I'm sure he'll be a great piece for us."
Michael Beasley on what he would change in his career: 'I would have listened to Pat Riley'
Michael Cooper: If you had this to do all over again, your career, I mean, and again, you said you were distracted from a lot of things, what would you have eliminated in order to make a better career? Michael Beasley: ‘If I did it all over again, I would have listened to Pat Riley. Pat Riley told me to get a condo, get two bedrooms, one for my mom when she come in town… I went the polar opposite… I got a six-bedroom house, got three dogs, had three, four of my friends staying in… and then from it, that's where all the problems came from. I was bailing people out of jail… my uncle was fighting a RICO… my godfather got nine, ten years… So to me, I was really dealing with problems.
There were some strong rumbles last month that Miami was looking to offload Fontecchio. But that was before the Haywood Highsmith-to-Brooklyn trade that gave the Heat some financial wiggle room under the luxury tax ... and before Fontecchio delivered a reminder of his shooting prowess with those seven 3s Sunday.
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