Rony Seikaly was taken by the Heat with the 9th pick in the first round of the 1988 NBA draft. As well as being the franchise's first ever college draft pick, Seikaly became the first player born in Lebanon to compete in the NBA.

During his run with the Heat, Seikaly had the nickname "The Spin Doctor", due to his trademark low-post spin moves.

After signing a four-year, $98 million contract to stay with the Heat, Hassan Whiteside finished the 2016-17 season with 1,309 points and 1,088 total rebounds.

The team started out its inaugural season by losing the first 17 games, including a blowout 138-91 loss to Magic Johnson's Los Angeles Lakers, at the time an NBA record.

The Heat continued to struggle in their second season, never winning more than two consecutive games, en route to an 18-64 record.

Determined to bring a championship to Miami, Riley dropped a bombshell two nights before the season began, sending Glen Rice, Matt Geiger and four other players to the Hornets in exchange for All-Star center Alonzo Mourning.

On December 17, 1991, the Cleveland Cavs beat the Heat by 68 points. The lopsided victory became an NBA record for the largest margin of victory in history. After scoring 75 points and having a 20 point lead at halftime, the Cavaliers brought the final score to 148-80.

The Heat retired Michael Jordan's number 23 jersey on April 11, 2003, to honor Jordan's achievements and contributions in basketball even though he never played for the team. The Heat is the only NBA team other than the Chicago Bulls to have retired the number 23 jersey in honor of Jordan.

Selected by the Miami Heat in the 1988 NBA Expansion Draft, Jon Sundvold played off the bench but still led the NBA in three point shooting percentage in 1988-89, hitting 52.2 percent of his attempts.

In the 1991-92 season, Rony Seikaly averaged 16 points per game and set a franchise record with 307 offensive rebounds.