The Miami Heat opened up their season by hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, October 21.
The Timberwolves went down to South Beach and destroyed the Giannis Antetokounmpo-led Heat with a 131-106 score.
After seeing the new-look Heat in action for the first time, the ex-NBA All-Star Jeff Teague declared himself out on the Heat.
All offseason long, Teague was a big supporter of the Antetokounmpo move. He felt that the Heat were in for a strong 2026-2027 campaign. But it clearly didn’t take long for Teague to change his mind.
Former Giannis Antetokounmpo Teammate Sounds Off On Miami Heat
“I’m done with the Heat,” Teague said in his postgame reaction.
“I didn’t know they were gonna be playing Milwaukee basketball still. I didn’t know they’d take the Milwaukee Bucks and put them in Miami. [Giannis Antetokounmpo] is still doing the same sh*t. I’m good.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Miami Heat Debut
The South Beach debut for Antetokounmpo was strong from a personal standpoint.
In 30 minutes, Giannis went 13-for-19 from the field and hit nine of his 14 free throws to score 35 points.
Beyond his scoring, Antetokounmpo came down with six rebounds, dished out one assist, and came up with a steal. It was a standout performance on the stat sheet, but nobody else had a strong enough performance to keep up with the star power of Anthony Edwards on the other side.
Giannis had a big scoring night. Anthony Edwards had one that was better.
The veteran guard went 16-for-29 from the field and hit on nine of his 17 shots from beyond the arc. Edwards produced 45 points in the opener. He logged a double-double with 10 rebounds.
It’s too early to declare the Heat a bad team in the Eastern Conference, but Teague isn’t buying the new-look squad, clearly. As Antetokounmpo left the Bucks after multiple seasons of big personal performances but struggling as a team, the first impression with the Heat hasn’t convinced anyone that the situation is going to be different in Miami.
Time will tell if that’s truly the case or not.
