Joel Embiid Says The Miami Heat Need Another Superstar

The Sixers center said that Miami needs another big player after their Game 5 loss to the Celtics.

Philadelphia 76ers superstar Joel Embiid was active on Twitter during the Heat’s 93-80 loss against the Boston Celtics. Many players were commenting throughout the game, but Embiid’s words stuck out.

“Miami needs another star,” Embiid tweeted during the matchup.

Miami needs another Star

— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) May 26, 2022

Embiid was referring to the lack of help around Heat superstar Jimmy Butler.

Embiid and Butler were teammates on the Sixers during the 2018-2019 season. The two excelled in the Sixers’ postseason, which left many believing that they would band together and possibly go further in seasons to come. Embiid even stated that he wanted Butler to remain with the team and questioned why he was traded elsewhere. This tweet from Embiid could be a subtle hint that he wants to re-unite with Butler in Miami, or purely just speculating that the Heat need more star presence.

Either way, Embiid may have a point.

Butler has been struggling lately, and the Heat don’t seem to have another player that can take the pressure off Butler during his lackluster performances. Bam Adebayo was supposed to be the Heat’s No. 2 player, but has underperformed in the postseason offensively. Adebayo did lead the team with 18 points in Game 5, but nearly half of his points came in garbage time. He started off with ten points in the first half, but lack of aggression led to a void of offensive presence from Adebayo.

One of the criticisms for the Heat was the lack of players to contend behind Butler, and that is starting to come to fruition. Miami’s inefficiency outside of Butler was covered up by big performances by the Heat star. But now that he is not his usual self, the Heat role players have been put into the spotlight and may be proving Embiid right.

Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside The Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at jayden.armant@bison.howard.edu or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.