1994–95 Miami Heat season

The 1994–95 Miami Heat season was the seventh season for the Miami Heat in the National Basketball Association. The Heat had the twelfth overall pick in the 1994 NBA draft, and selected point guard Khalid Reeves from the University of Arizona. During the off-season, the team signed free agents Kevin Gamble, Ledell Eackles and Brad Lohaus. Before the start of the regular season, the Heat traded Rony Seikaly to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for Billy Owens, then after the first two games of the season, they traded Steve Smith, and Grant Long to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Kevin Willis.

Despite the addition of Owens, Willis and Reeves, the Heat struggled losing seven of their first eight games of the regular season, on their way to a 10–23 start to the season. After holding a 17–29 record at the All-Star break, head coach Kevin Loughery was fired, and replaced with assistant coach Alvin Gentry. The Heat played above .500 in winning percentage posting a 7–5 record in February, but played below .500 for the remainder of the season, and finished in fourth place in the Atlantic Division with a disappointing 32–50 record.

Glen Rice averaged 22.3 points and 1.4 steals per game, and led the Heat with 185 three-point field goals, while Willis averaged 17.1 points and 10.7 rebounds per game, and Owens provided the team with 14.3 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. In addition, Bimbo Coles provided with 10.0 points, 6.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game, while Reeves contributed 9.2 points and 4.3 assists per game, and Matt Geiger averaged 8.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, Gamble contributed 7.4 points per game. Meanwhile, John Salley provided with 7.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, Eackles and Harold Miner both contributed 7.3 points per game each, and Keith Askins averaged 4.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the America West Arena in Phoenix, Arizona, Rice won the NBA Three-Point Shootout, while Miner won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest for the second time, and Reeves was selected for the NBA Rookie Game, as a member of the White team. The Heat finished 22nd in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 598,761 at the Miami Arena during the regular season.

This was Rice's final season with the Heat, as he was traded along with Geiger and Reeves to the Charlotte Hornets the following season. Meanwhile, Salley was left unprotected in the 1995 NBA expansion draft, where he was selected by the Toronto Raptors expansion team, while Miner was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Eackles re-signed as a free agent with his former team, the Washington Bullets, Lohaus signed with the San Antonio Spurs, and Gentry was fired as head coach and was replaced by Pat Riley, who resigned from coaching the New York Knicks.

One notable highlight of the regular season occurred on April 15, 1995, in a game against the Orlando Magic at the Miami Arena, in which Rice scored a career-high of 56 points, as the Heat defeated the Magic, 123–117; Rice established a new franchise record that would stand until LeBron James's 61 points on March 3, 2014.