A Serb, Swede, Lithuanian, Russian, Italian walk into the Heat locker room … (roster’s international intrigue no joke)

LAS VEGAS — There was a time when Pat Riley seemingly was over it, and the Miami Heat president appeared to think too much was lost in the transition with foreign players.

Just last month, as the Heat introduced first-round pick Kasparas Jakucionis, the Lithuanian guard taken No. 20 out of Illinois, there was a quip at that media session about Martin Muursepp – as in the Estonian big man taken in the first round in Riley’s first Heat draft in 1996, a player whose Heat career lasted all of 27 minutes.

From there, for decades it largely was about domestic product for Riley and the Heat in the team’s development program, with a candor from Riley along the way about what he had considered a better way.

“I like the homegrown product, I just do. I feel comfortable with it,” he said in the midst of lifting the Heat to championship level. “And maybe somewhere in free agency or via some trades, we may have missed somewhere along the line, but I just felt I just like the players here.

“That’s where I’ve gone. I’m not saying that we’re not going to ever draft a foreign player or sign one, but it hasn’t been at the top of our priority list.”

To a degree, that is what makes the United Nations being cast on the current Heat roster all the more fascinating.

A Serb.

A Swede.

An Italian.

A Lithuanian.

A Russian.

And for those who consider all beyond the borders to be international, a Canadian.

Understand, there was a time when international influence was positive influence for Riley, including his time with Serbian Vlade Divac as his center with the Los Angeles Lakers.

But now it practically stands center stage for the Heat during summer league in Las Vegas and soon to move on to 601 Biscayne Boulevard.

It began in the 2022 NBA draft with the selection of Nikola Jovic out of Serbia at No. 27.

It continued with the addition of Pelle Larsson in the second round of the 2024 draft, the Swedish guard who played at Arizona.

It followed with last month’s selection of Jakucionis.

Then, hours after the Jakucionis pick, there was the signing of a two-way contract with Vlad Goldin, the Russian center who went undrafted after playing at Florida Atlantic University and Michigan.

And days later, there was the trade for Italian forward Simone Fontecchio, the player acquired from the Detroit Pistons in the deal that sent out Duncan Robinson.

Factor in the presence of Canadian forward Andrew Wiggins, who was acquired in February’s trade with the Golden State Warriors for Jimmy Butler, and that is fully one-third of the Heat roster holding passports from elsewhere.

And yet, Adam Simon, the Heat’s Vice President of Basketball Operations and Assistant General Manager, the international intrigue was not cast by design with the Jakucionis pick, or what came prior.

“It wasn’t planned,” Simon said amid the Heat’s ongoing schedule at the Las Vegas NBA Summer League. “It just happened to be at the moment we made a decision, the best player just happened to be international. So no grand plan on my part or our department’s part to bring in more of a global team.

“It just so happened that when we picked Niko, we liked him the best. When we picked Pelle, we liked him the best. Simone happened to be a good trade in our deal with Duncan.”

Still, it has been quite the road to arrive at this buffet of international flavor.

The Muursepp misstep cost the Heat a future first-round pick and also required the Heat to play an exhibition game in Israel to get Muursepp out of his contract there. Muursepp appeared in 10 games before he was dealt to the Dallas Mavericks in 1997 in the trade that landed Jamal Mashburn.

From there, there were Heat international interactions with the likes of Wang Zhi Zhi, Sean Marks, Yakhouba Diawara, Kirk Penney, Ronny Turiaf, Milos Babic, Stephane Lasme, Beno Udrih, Precious Achiuwa  and the positive payoff with Goran Dragic.

It was after Dragic, when the Jovic pick was made, that Riley acknowledged a shift.

“If a player can play,” he said at the time, “I don’t care where he comes from.”

So, now, a locker room of second, third, fourth languages. Lithuanian, Serbian, Swedish, Russian, Italian, Spanish and more.

“You never know where the player is going to come from,” Simon said. “That’s the challenge of the job.

“Players come from all over the planet and it just so happens at this time there’s a bunch of them on our roster.”