Miami Heat, Adam Simon in unique position of NBA Draft.

MIAMI – There is clandestine and there is stealth. For the Miami Heat, both came into play as they prepared for the NBA Draft and what they might do with their No. 18 pick on Thursday night . . . if they retain it.

As has been the case during the franchise’s best of times, particularly during the team’s Big Three era at the start of the previous decade with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, recent weeks meant juggling workouts with prospects and the playoff schedule.

While the Heat rarely have made their workout lists public, this time around it also meant getting prospects in and out of the Kaseya Center amid the media barrage of the NBA Finals.

“We made sure we have the schedule from the team first, and the league, the use of the building and different locker rooms and whatever space we have,” Adam Simon, the team’s vice president of basketball operations and assistant general manager, told the Sun Sentinel. “We used the practice court outside of the time when the team needed it and used different rooms to do interviews.”

So yes, workouts, and interviews, and plenty of intriguing faces passing though 601 Biscayne, from Jett Howard, the University School product who played for his father, former Heat assistant coach Juwan Howard, at Michigan, to Friday’s workout of Kris Murray, the Iowa forward who is brother of Sacramento Kings forward Keegan Murray.

All done with no guarantee of the Heat retaining the pick, amid the swirl of trade rumors.

“We’ve prepared like usual,” said Simon, who bounced between playoff venues and workout sites. “We’ve adjusted some dates, to try to stay out of the way of the team, while still getting our work done. We’ve had good cooperation with the agents to help us with those adjustments and we’ll be prepared as we always are. We’re good to go.”

But go where?

On one hand, the No. 18 pick is a low-cost pathway to augment a roster already bursting at the salary-cap seams. On the other hand, the NBA Finals appearance further cast the Heat in win-now mode, where the presence of an additional veteran presence, in lieu of a draft pick, might have put the Heat over the top against the Denver Nuggets.

“I think we’re in a good, strong position and I think there’s a lot of good talent throughout the first round,” Simon said, with No. 18 the Heat’s best first-round slot since Tyler Herro was taken out of Kentucky at No. 13 in 2019. Since then, the Heat selected Precious Achiuwa out of Memphis at No. 20 in 2020, did not have a 2021 first-round pick, and took Nikola Jovic out of Serbia at No. 27 last year. “And we’re still doing our finishing work and preparing to see who we think might be in our wheelhouse. But I think we’re sitting in a good position.”