Miami did not spend this offseason tinkering around the edges. Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel’el Ware, Kasparas Jakučionis and a haul of draft capital went to Milwaukee as the Heat brought Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis to South Beach. For a franchise still searching for its first championship since 2013, that was not the price of patience.

But landing the two-time MVP was only the first part of Miami’s equation. Antetokounmpo now joins Bam Adebayo at the heart of a roster that has the star power to dream big, while losing one of its most important perimeter creators in Herro. And before the new-look Heat have even taken the floor together, one of the men responsible for setting Miami’s championship standard sees both the opportunity and what could still be missing.

“I wouldn’t say pressure, but you know, it has big shoes to fill. Me and D Wade started and then LeBron with the big three. So you know, when you talk about a player of that caliber in a place like Miami, they are expected to win,” O’Neal told Sports Illustrated. But Shaq didn’t stop at expectations. “I think they need about 3 or 4 more shooters to surround him and Bam, but other than that, you know, with the culture, with the way they prepare, with the way they practice, they will definitely be ready.”

Shaq knows that standard because he helped create it. O’Neal and Dwyane Wade delivered Miami’s first NBA championship in 2006 before another superstar era arrived four years later with LeBron James and Chris Bosh joining Wade. That group reached four straight NBA Finals, winning back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013. Miami has returned to the Finals three times since its last title in 2014, 2020 and 2023 without finishing the job.

That history gives the first half of Shaq’s answer its weight. The second half, though, speaks directly to the roster Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra have assembled around their newest superstar. Miami didn’t acquire Antetokounmpo alone; Bobby Portis came with him. But the price included Herro, Jaquez, Ware and Jakučionis, leaving a new question behind the headline-grabbing trade: where will enough perimeter shooting come from?

The concern becomes harder to dismiss when Antetokounmpo and Adebayo are considered together. Giannis shot roughly 33% from three on only about 1.3 attempts per game last season, while Adebayo shot 31.8% on 5.5 attempts. Miami’s offense already ranked 13th with a 116.7 offensive rating before swapping Herro’s high-volume perimeter creation for a frontcourt built around two players defenses will be far more comfortable seeing outside than attacking the paint.

There is also precedent behind Shaq’s prescription. When Antetokounmpo won his first championship with Milwaukee in 2021, the Bucks could surround his downhill pressure with Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday, stretch the floor with Brook Lopez and turn to Pat Connaughton and Portis elsewhere in the rotation. Mike Budenholzer’s offense leaned into that spacing around Giannis. Miami is now trying to recreate the championship result without yet having the same obvious collection of perimeter threats.

That makes Miami’s link to another familiar superstar all the more intriguing. LeBron James remains on the market, with Miami among the teams linked to him alongside Cleveland and Golden State. A reunion would add another elite creator to a team suddenly built around Giannis and Bam, but it would not necessarily answer Shaq’s concern by itself. LeBron can still provide perimeter gravity and playmaking, yet the 41-year-old is not the kind of high-volume catch-and-shoot specialist that turns three non-elite shooting stars into a naturally spaced offense.

Antetokounmpo, however, isn’t planning to make Miami’s case for it. “I don’t think I’ll pitch anything to him,” Giannis told CBS Miami. “I feel like in his career he’s always made good decisions. That’s what the history has shown. Everywhere that he’s been, he’s won.”

Whether James chooses Miami or somewhere else, Shaq’s larger roster question would remain. Wiggins gives Miami a respectable perimeter option, but Mitchell is a limited-volume shooter, while Giannis and Bam place an even greater premium on the shooting around them. And with Miami’s post-trade financial constraints potentially making those additions harder to find, landing the biggest prize of the offseason may have only started Riley’s work.

Miami has already made the move that transformed its ceiling. Now comes the less glamorous part: building a roster capable of maximizing it. Shaq helped establish the championship standard Giannis is walking into. His warning suggests meeting it could depend on what the Heat do next.