Giannis Antetokounmpo’s first season with the Miami Heat hasn’t gone according to plan so far. Miami has dropped its opening three games, including a concerning 115-110 loss to the undermanned Charlotte Hornets on Saturday, during which the two-time MVP fouled out in the fourth quarter.

Antetokounmpo’s visible frustration amid the Heat’s rough start has fueled questions about whether he’s much better off in Miami than he was with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Miami Move Comes Under Fire Amid Heat’s Winless Start

Saturday’s road defeat came after a frantic comeback fell short. The Heat trailed 96-75 heading into the fourth quarter and tied the game at 104-104, but Grayson Allen converted a back-breaking 4-point play with 3:19 remaining to thwart their momentum.

Antetokounmpo finished with 14 points on 4-for-11 shooting (36.4%), 6 rebounds, and 3 assists in 25 minutes. That marked a stark drop-off from the 71 combined points he scored in Miami’s season-opening blowout losses to the Minnesota Timberwolves (131-106) and Detroit Pistons (128-111).

Parody basketball account Hater Report turned attention to Antetokounmpo’s exit from Milwaukee, highlighting his visible dismay on the bench amid all three defeats.

“Giannis realizing in real time he left the Bucks to go to a Heat team that’s even WORSE,” Hater Report captioned the post.

Through three outings, Antetokounmpo is averaging 28.3 points on 57.1% shooting, 8.0 rebounds, and 3.0 assists, but the Heat have been outscored with him on the floor in each contest.

Miami has trailed by at least 23 points in each loss and has been outscored by 47 points overall. The last Heat team to begin 0-3 was the 2007-08 squad, which finished a league-worst 15-67.

Antetokounmpo spent 13 years with the Bucks before Miami landed him in a blockbuster offseason trade. The move was expected to give the Heat an elite defense and imposing frontcourt and put the 10-time All-Star in a better position to compete for his second NBA title.

Instead, the team has underperformed defensively and struggled to generate consistent offense, with limited shot creation and outside shooting on the roster.

“Giannis could have been a Bucks lifer, but he went to Miami to get the same results he been getting in Milwaukee. You have to laugh,” one X user reacted to the Heat’s slow start.

Another kept it short: “That grass ain’t greener on the other side.”

Basketball highlights account Basketball Performances brought in Stephen Curry, whose Golden State Warriors have also lost their first three games: “Curry and Giannis could’ve teamed up if they wanted to, but here we are… both stuck in terrible situations and wasting another year of their careers.”

Some of the criticism focused on Miami’s roster construction around the megastar.

“The Miami Heat have not constructed any resemblance of a team that Giannis has had the ultimate success with … No consistent and reliable second scoring option who is also a self-creator and someone who he can defer to in the clutch to get a bucket (Khris Middleton),” Basketball Network’s Damien Peters wrote.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has put the onus on his players, saying, “Our system is our system. We can be that active at any point during the game. When we aren’t, we’re choosing not to, and we’re paying the price right now.”

Shot selection also bothered the veteran coach: “In the first half, we played well. Then all of a sudden there were six or eight times where we took ill-advised shots. They just weren’t the shots we’re looking for.”

Through three games, Miami is shooting 36-for-119 (30.3%) from deep. Opponents have gone 55-for-131 (42.0%) from 3 and averaged 124.7 points per game.

The Heat (0-3) will look to get into the win column when they host the Dallas Mavericks (1-2) on Monday at Kaseya Center.