The 1988–89 Miami Heat season was Miami's inaugural season in the NBA. The Heat were the first of two expansion teams to play in the state of Florida over a two-year period, and along with the Charlotte Hornets, joined the NBA in 1988. The team revealed a new primary logo of a red basketball on fire going through a hoop, and got new uniforms adding red and black to their color scheme. In the 1988 NBA expansion draft, the Heat selected veteran players like Billy Thompson, Fred Roberts, Jon Sundvold, Darnell Valentine, Dwayne "Pearl" Washington and Scott Hastings. However, Roberts was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, and Valentine was dealt to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The team also signed free agents Pat Cummings and Rory Sparrow during the off-season. The Heat received the ninth overall pick in the 1988 NBA draft, and selected center Rony Seikaly out of Syracuse University, while other rookies included first round draft pick Kevin Edwards, and second round draft picks Grant Long and Sylvester Gray. The team hired Ron Rothstein as their first ever head coach. The Heat made their debut on November 5, 1988, in a losing effort to the Los Angeles Clippers by a score of 111–91 at the Miami Arena; Sparrow made the first basket in franchise history. The Heat lost an NBA record of 17 games to start their inaugural season. On December 14, the team won their first game of the season by beating the Clippers at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, by a score of 89–88. Five games later, the Heat won their first game ever at home when they beat the Utah Jazz, 101–80. The Heat struggled all season long, holding a dreadful 5–40 record at the All-Star break, and finishing last place in the Midwest Division with a 15–67 record. The club's leading scorer was Edwards, who averaged a low team-high of 13.8 points, and contributed 4.4 assists and 1.8 steals per game, and was also selected to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team, while Sparrow averaged 12.5 points, 5.4 assists and 1.3 steals per game, and Long provided the team with 11.9 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. In addition, Seikaly averaged 10.9 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, while Thompson provided with 10.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, and Sundvold contributed 10.4 points per game off the bench, while shooting .522 in three-point field-goal percentage. Cummings averaged 8.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, while Gray provided with 8.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, and Washington contributed 7.6 points and 4.2 assists per game. Despite their location in Miami, Florida, the NBA placed the Heat in the Midwest Division of the Western Conference; this meant that the Heat were forced on some of the longest and farthest road trips in the NBA in 1988–89, as their closest divisional opponent was the Houston Rockets, which were located over 950 miles away. The team's primary logo and uniforms both remained in use until 1999.

Offseason

Expansion draft

Draft picks

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Awards, records, and honors

Player statistics

Ragular season

† Denotes player spent time with another team in the season. Stats reflect time with the Heat only.

Transactions