Miami, FL – Micky Arison, Managing General Partner of the Miami HEAT, has been selected as a finalist for induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2025. If inducted, he would be the tenth individual with ties to the organization to receive this honor, joining Bob McAdoo (2000), Pat Riley (2008), Gary Payton (2013), Alonzo Mourning (2014), Shaquille O’Neal (2016), Ray Allen (2018), Chris Bosh (2021), Tim Hardaway (2022), and Dwyane Wade (2023).
Over his 29-year tenure as the franchise owner, Arison has led the HEAT to three NBA Championships (2006, 2012, 2013), seven NBA Finals appearances, seven Eastern Conference championships, 10 Eastern Conference Finals appearances, 16 division titles, and 23 postseason qualifications. Notably, the team has maintained a consistent presence in the playoffs over the past 20 years, with no back-to-back missed seasons.
Despite being the NBA’s sixth-youngest franchise, the HEAT are among only eight teams to have secured at least three NBA Championships. Since his first full season managing the team, Arison has achieved a record of 1,316-995 (.569), the best in the Eastern Conference and second-best in the NBA. The HEAT are one of only three teams among 124 in the four major North American professional leagues (NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL) to have made the playoffs at least 23 times and won at least three league championships. Additionally, the HEAT have currently sold out 622 consecutive games, the fourth-longest sellout streak in NBA history.
Arison served a three-year term as the Chairman of the NBA Board of Governors beginning in October of 2005 and his family has been involved with the organization since his father Ted brought the franchise to the NBA in 1988. Since Arison took control of the team, he has shown stability throughout the organization, including hiring just three head coaches (Riley, Van Gundy, Spoelstra) over that span. He has also showed his commitment to the fans of South Florida when he worked successfully with Miami-Dade public officials to keep the HEAT in downtown Miami. The result of his diligence was an innovative public-private partnership that together built the privately financed county-owned state-of-the-art Kaseya Center.
Under Arison’s leadership, the HEAT earned the NBA’s 2022 Sales & Marketing Team of the Year award and have been champions in the fight for inclusion and social justice. In November 2020, Arison was named to the board of the NBA’s Social Justice Coalition which focuses on action and change around voting access and criminal justice reform at the national, state and local levels. In 2018, the HEAT captured the NBA’s inaugural Inclusion Leadership Award for the franchise’s ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion.
The Arison family is dedicated to South Florida and has, over the years, supported a diverse range of arts, community service, and charitable organizations. Their philanthropic efforts include support for the World Central Kitchen, Wounded Warriors, ICA Miami, the Miami Children’s Museum, the Jackson Memorial Foundation, the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, Project Medishare for Haiti, Direct Relief, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami, United Way of Miami-Dade, Chapman Partnership, Lotus House, Overtown Youth Center, Feeding South Florida, and numerous other initiatives.
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