In the wake of
Dwyane Wade’s freeagency departure, the Miami Heat sign freeagent shooting guard Dion Waiters.
MIAMI — In the wake of Dwyane Wade’s freeagency departure, the Miami Heat’s void at shooting guard was substantial and with few potential answers.
Then Wayne Ellington was added from the Brooklyn Nets to at least offer 3-point shooting.
And then came a decidedly dramatic turn Monday in NBA free agency, with the Heat landing Oklahoma City Thunder freeagent guard Dion Waiters at the piddling cost of a $2.9 million salary-cap exception.
A free-agency period that began with the Heat’s failed effort to land Waiters’ former Thunder teammate Kevin Durant led Oklahoma City to recently rescind their qualifying offer to Waiters.
The Heat then swooped in Monday with their lone chip remaining to put into play in free agency, the $2.9 million salary-cap exception granted to teams that had previously utilized salary-cap space to fill out their roster.
The agreement includes an option year for Waiters at just over $3 million for 2017-18.
Had Waiters, 24, merely accepted the Thunder’s $6.8 million qualifying offer as a restricted free agent, he would have been guaranteed that salary for the coming season.
Instead, he declined to accept that contract for 2016-17, with Oklahoma City then withdrawing that qualifying offer by their July 18 deadline. He earned $5.1 million last season.
While the Heat have prioritized maximizing salary-cap space for the 2017 offseason, it is unlikely that Waiters would opt into the second year of his Heat agreement, with the salary cap expected to take another quantum leap next summer.
To appreciate the dramatic turn of events, consider that Heat president Pat Riley said just over a week ago that there were no plans to utilize the $2.9 million exception this offseason.
“As far as the $2.9 million room exception," Riley said on July 16, two days before Waiters’ qualifying offer was rescinded by the Thunder, “we’re going to hold on to that. It’s a little jewel right now. I don’t think we’re going use it for the rest of the summer. There isn’t anybody out there right now that I want to give it to. It’s something you can use somewhere in February or March."
In the wake of losing Wade to the Chicago Bulls, the Heat appeared poised to enter the season with Ellington, Tyler Johnson or Josh Richardson as their opening-night shooting guard.
But into that void now steps Waiters, who had his moments during the Thunder’s run to within one victory of the 2016 NBA Finals and provides an added element of 3-point shooting that the revamped Heat roster had lacked.
With Waiters and Ellington added, it is possible that the Heat explore minutes at small forward for Richardson.
That would leave Justise Winslow available to move to power forward should Chris Bosh be unable to return from the blood clots that have sidelined him the second half of the past two seasons.
The addition of Waiters brings the Heat roster to 18 players, with teams allowed to carry a maximum of 20 during the preseason before being required to trim to a maximum of 15 by the start of the regular season.