The 1988–89 Miami Heat season was Miami's inaugural season in the NBA. The Miami Heat were the first of 2 expansion teams to play in the state of Florida over a two-year period. The expansion would include three other expansion franchises in Charlotte, Minnesota, and Orlando. The expansion Heat were able to select Syracuse star center Rony Seikaly in the NBA draft. The Heat would make their debut on November 5 in a losing effort to the Los Angeles Clippers by a score of 111-91 at the Miami Arena. Rory Sparrow made the first basket in franchise history. The Heat lost an NBA record 17 games to start their inaugural season. On December 14, the Heat got their first win of the season by beating the Clippers in Los Angeles by a score of 89-88. Five games later, the Heat would win their first game ever at home when they beat the Utah Jazz 101-80. The Heat would finish their first season with a 15-67 record. The club's leading scorer was Kevin Edwards, who averaged 13.8 points per game. Interestingly, despite geographical common sense, the NBA placed the Heat in the Midwest Division of the Western Conference. This meant that Heat were forced on some of the longest and farthest road trips in the NBA in 1988-89 as their closest divisional opponent was the Houston Rockets which were located over 950 miles away from Miami.

Note: GP= Games played; REB= Rebounds; AST= Assists; STL = Steals; BLK = Blocks; PTS = Points; AVG = Average

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