Two contract deadlines arrive
Decisions to be made with White, McGruder deals
The salaries of both White and McGruder become fully guaranteed for 2017-18 if they are on the Heat’s season-opening roster.
In an offseason that has afforded minimal down time for the front office, the Miami Heat on Tuesday face a pair of contract deadlines.
The Heat must decide by the end of the day Tuesday whether to guarantee $453,000 each for 2017-18 to Rodney McGruder and Okaro White, with the two otherwise to become free agents.
Aug. 1 guarantee deadlines are not unusual in the NBA, allowing teams time to sort through both summer league and free agency before making such decisions. The Charlotte Hornets recently cut former Heat guard Briante Weber when faced with such a deadline, with the Orlando Magic on Monday waiving former Heat 10-day prospect Marcus Georges-Hunt and the Atlanta Hawks on Monday waiving Diamond Stone.
The amount at the guarantee deadline for McGruder and White is equal to half of what each player would have received for the 2017-18 season under the previous NBA veteran-minimum scale, because the guarantee was written with a hard number, rather than as a percentage of salary.
However, with the NBA’s revised minimum scale that went into effect on July 1 under the league’s new collective-bargaining agreement, McGruder and White both hold $1.3 million salaries for the coming season.
The salaries of both White and McGruder become fully guaranteed for 2017-18 if they are on the Heat’s season-opening roster.
Unlike previous seasons when the Heat were hard up against the salary cap or luxury tax, the Heat face no such concerns with their current payroll. The Heat already are operating at the 2017-18 salary cap, left with only minimum salaries and a $4.3 million salary-cap exception going forward.
Neither McGruder nor White appear in jeopardy.
McGruder’s 65 starts last season were the fifth-highest total by a rookie in franchise history. His 10-game streak with at least one 3-pointer last season was the third longest by a Heat rookie.
White was a D-League All-Star last season, his midseason arrival to the Heat coinciding with the team’s 13-game winning streak.
Beyond recently added undrafted rookies Matt Williams Jr. and Derrick Walton Jr., the other 12 players on the Heat roster are fully guaranteed for the coming season: Hassan Whiteside, Goran Dragic, James Johnson, Dion Waiters, Kelly Olynyk, Wayne Ellington, Tyler Johnson, Justise Winslow, Bam Adebayo, Udonis Haslem, Josh Richardson and A.J. Hammons.
In addition to McGruder and White receiving their additional guarantees at Tuesday’s deadline, Aug. 1 also is the day that Adebayo becomes trade eligible, a month after the first-round pick out of Kentucky signed his rookie-scale contract. All other players signed by the Heat this offseason cannot be dealt until Dec. 15, at the earliest.
In addition, on Thursday, the two-year anniversary of when he signed his rookie contract as a second-round pick out of Tennessee in 2015, Richardson becomes eligible for an extension. The combo guard otherwise would stand as a restricted free agent next summer.
The new collective-bargaining agreement moved the extension window to the two-year anniversary of an initial contract. Richardson is eligible for a fouryear, $44 million extension that would kick in after this coming season’s $1.5 million salary.
Counting Williams and Walton, the Heat have 16 players under contract, allowed to carry as many as 20 during the offseason, before a mandatory cutdown to 15 by opening night. The Heat also can carry up to two two-way players beyond that deadline, with Walton already signed to such a deal, an agreement that limits his 2017-18 NBA exposure to a maximum of 45 regularseason days with the Heat, unless converted to a standard contract.