Olynyk option could limit cap space race
As the Miami Heat await Kelly Olynyk’s decision on his $13.1 million player option for 2020-21, their ability to make a swing-forthe-fences trade this offseason could hang in the balance.
And it wouldn’t be because of potentially getting that money off their books. In fact, it would be quite the opposite.
Should Olynyk opt in, his 202021 salary then would become available to be utilized in a trade. Paired with the $15 million the Heat owe Andre Iguodala for next season, those two salaries, when combined in a trade, would leave the Heat positioned to deal for a player earning as much as $35 million in 2020-21.
While there are trade kickers that would factor in for both players, and while a trade partner, with the exception of one looking for a salary dump, assuredly would want additional assets, the combined Olynyk and Iguodala salaries would represent a starting point for a large-scale move.
In each case, it would leave a trade partner with a pair of expiring contracts, with Olynyk, if he opts in this offseason, to become a free agent in the 2021 offseason, and with Iguodala’s $15 million salary for 2021-22 non-guaranteed. Without the salaries of Olynyk and Iguodala to put into play, the Heat would have limited options to construct a deal to match a significant salary of, say, the $28.7 million due Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal in 2020-21, or others in a similar salary stratosphere.
Moving beyond next season’s
(provided he opts in), the next largest salaries on the Heat’s 2020-21 books beyond Jimmy Butler’s $34.4 million are the $5.1 million due Bam Adebayo and the $3.8 million due Tyler Herro (who stands as the Heat’s most likely trade sweetener).
For Olynyk, it presents the possibility of opting into his Heat deal only to potentially then be rerouted in a trade.
In an interview with the Sun Sentinel, he said it would be similar to what he experienced prior to this past season, when he was rumored to have been part of a package with Derrick Jones Jr. to the Dallas Mavericks to facilitate the Butler acquisition.
“I mean, on that night I thought I was going to Dallas. I thought it was over,” he said. “Not over, but I thought it was done, that it was a done deal. Like when
I heard, people were calling me, I thought it was done.
“And then it unraveled or got revoked. I’m not sure how it went down, but I stayed in Miami.”
The Heat instead worked out a deal that sent Hassan Whiteside to the Portland Trail Blazers and a firstround pick to the Los Angeles Clippers to make the math work for the Butler acquisition from the Philadelphia 76ers.
That kept Olynyk with the Heat, where he again rode the rotation rollercoaster, during a season that at times included a major role and at other times left him benched in favor of smaller lineups.
“Yeah, it would have looked way different, being on the other side, in the other conference, different system, different roles,” he said of what could have been an alternate reality with the Mavericks. “It could be better. It could be worse.”
To a degree, that could again be his reality, if he opts to lock in his $13.1 million for next season, which immediately would make him trade eligible (a deadline for that decision has yet to be set, with the NBA and players association still working out timing elements for 2020-21).
“You never know, the grass could be greener, or there could be no grass over there,” Olynyk said. “So you really have no clue. And that’s in everything in life, not just basketball, not just sports.”