1994–95 Miami Heat season

The 1994–95 NBA season was the seventh season for the Miami Heat in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Heat had the twelfth overall pick in the 1994 NBA draft, and selected 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 season started, Heat management decided to start pulling the plug on their core that dated back to the franchise's first season in 1988–89. It started by trading Rony Seikaly to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for Billy Owens. Miami then proceeded to trade Steve Smith and Grant Long to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Kevin Willis after the first two games. Despite the addition of Owens and Willis, the Heat stumbled out of the gate losing seven of their first eight games. After holding a 17–29 record at the All-Star break, head coach Kevin Loughery was fired, and replaced with assistant Alvin Gentry, as the Heat finished fourth in the Atlantic Division with a 32–50 record.

Glen Rice led the team in scoring averaging 22.3 points per game, 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, Matt Geiger averaged 8.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, and John Salley contributed 7.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.

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 newly expansion Toronto Raptors, while Harold 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.

On April 15, 1995, Rice scored a career-high of 56 points in a 123–117 home win over the Orlando Magic, establishing a new franchise record that would stand until LeBron James's 61 points on March 3, 2014. During the All-Star Weekend in Phoenix, Arizona, Rice won the Three-Point Shootout, and Miner won the Slam Dunk Contest for the second time.