MIAMI – With the Miami Heat entering an exciting era with Giannis Antetokounmpo leading the team along with Bam Adebayo, now's the time for fans to theorize what the starting lineup will look like once the opener rolls around on Oct. 21. As the Heat also added three-point shooting specialist Klay Thompson, Antetokounmpo would throw out a lineup that he and Adebayo like, though a standout is missing.

Monday marked the team's media day, with Antetokounmpo and Adebayo taking the podium together to answer questions from reporters, with the two-time Most Valuable Player (MVP) being asked about the possibilities of the defense.

Hearing that question, Antetokounmpo spitballed a theoretical starting lineup that Adebayo called “tough,” including the two big men along with Davion Mitchell, Pelle Larsson, and Andrew Wiggins.

“I feel like everybody can guard the yard,” Antetokounmpo said. “I don't know what the starting lineup is going to be. I'm just putting a hypothetical out there. Bam at five, Giannis at the four, Wiggs at three, Pelle at the two, Davion at the one. Let's just say.”

“I might be the mismatch; that's the crazy part. So yeah, just having players that can be coachable, having players that kind of accept the role as a defender. Like I've heard Davion say, ‘I'm a defender, bro.' I've never heard that before. Usually people say, ‘I'm a scorer, I get buckets.' He said, ‘No, I'm a defender. You know, guys are competitive.”

Giannis talks about the defense and gives a hypothetical starting 5, though he doesn’t know what it’ll be:

“Bam at the 5, me at the 4, [Wiggins] at the 3, Pelle at the 2, Davion at the 1.”

“That’s a tuff five,” Bam said

“I might be the mismatch, that’s the crazy part…” #Heat pic.twitter.com/kt0QLMiuGx

— Zachary Weinberger (@ZachWeinberger) September 28, 2026

Defense has always been a driving force for Miami, though it looks to improve after falling out of the top-10 in defensive rating last season, the first time in roughly a decade.

Heat's Giannis Antetokounmpo praises Klay Thompson

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The one player that was missing from Antetokounmpo's hypothetical starting five was Thompson, which many could say was the second biggest acquisition for the team after the former Milwaukee Bucks star. As it's easy to see Thompson in the starting lineup, as Antetokounmpo and Adebayo will open up shooting lanes for the four-time NBA champion, the former MVP was maybe throwing out the team's best defenders for the lineup.

Still, Thompson calls himself a “properly rated” defender, even boasting about his NBA All-Defensive Second Team honor in 2019, but there's no denying that his shooting ability will be a major help for the Heat. Besides that, Thompson brings in the “championship DNA” that few have, as Antetokounmpo said to ClutchPoints.

“Good food,” Antetokounmpo said when asked what Thompson brings to Miami, likely referring to the boat trip Thompson hosted recently with the team. “No, like Klay, as you said, played high-level basketball for many, many years.”

“Just if you put him in a place that he knows that he gotta compete every single day, and that we expect him to be at his best, and we expect him to make shots, and we expect him to be vocal, and we expect him to make deep runs into playoffs, like he's gonna be right there with us,” Antetokounmpo continued. “I'm excited to play with him. I'm always like, watch him play and admire his journey.”

Antetokounmpo will continue to build chemistry with Adebayo, Thompson, and the rest, with training camp starting on Tuesday morning at Florida Atlantic University, going until Friday ahead of Saturday's preseason opener against the Toronto Raptors. At any rate, all roads lead to the regular-season opener on Oct. 21 against the Minnesota Timberwolves.