Heat’s $7.5M trade exception evaporates
As Monday turned to Tuesday, $7.5 million disappeared for the Miami Heat, at least in terms of the cryptocurrency that are salary-cap funds.
With the passing of Monday without a move, the team’s trade exception from last season’s deal of James Johnson to the Memphis Grizzlies was wiped from the list of options available to utilize ahead of Thursday’s 3 p.m. NBA trading deadline.
Monday was the deadline for all exceptions created at last season’s trading deadline, with the Heat’s the largest in the NBA. The exception was not allowed to be aggregated with another exception or the salary of another player, and would have put the Heat into the luxury tax had the full exception been utilized.
Most trade exceptions, which are generated as an accounting vehicle when more salary is sent out than taken back in a deal, go unused during their yearlong term.
It is the second exception lost to the Heat in a week, with a $4.7 million disabled-player exception lost last week when sidelined center Meyers Leonard was traded.
For the Heat, it now means that any potential trades will have to be constructed with salaries on both sides of the ledger coming within 25 percent plus $100,000.
Dealt 11 times over his career, an NBA record, new Heat forward Trevor Ariza said Tuesday he does not sense angst in the locker room as the deadline looms.
“To be honest with you, I don’t think it’s been a difference,” he said ahead of Tuesday night’s game against the Phoenix Suns at American-Airlines Arena. “The Heat do a really good job of making every day the same, keeping every day a workday, and making sure everybody’s locked in, and focused to what we’re doing here.
“That’s the biggest difference, everybody’s just been completely locked into what we’re doing.”
Ariza said that is not always the case as the clock moves closer to the deadline.
“In other places, yeah,” he said of tangible angst. “But, like I said, since I been here, with this team, every day has been completely that same: come to work, do your job, get better, help your teammates get better, and that’s it. It hasn’t been no different.”
Among those acquired by the Heat at last year’s deadline was Andre Iguodala. That has had Ariza, who was acquired last week from the Oklahoma City Thunder, in consultation with his fellow veteran forward.
“Andre is definitely somebody who I’ve been asking a lot of questions, as far as about how everything goes here,” Ariza said. “And he’s definitely kept me updated on things that worked, that haven’t worked for him, and just trying to implement it into what I’m doing.”
Adjustment time
Having last played on March 10, 2020 prior to his Heat debut in Friday night’s loss to the Indiana Pacers, Ariza, 35, said he still is gaining his bearings.
“Physically, I felt fine,” he said. “The rhythm is a little bit off. That comes from not practicing, not getting that practice time. But I feel like the more time I watch, the more film I watch, the more comfortable I’m getting, the more I’m understanding what to do.
“I’m as close to game shape as I could be, as far as preparing without playing.”
Having played for 10 teams, Ariza said it is just another case of re-education.
“This is a bit different,” he said of the Heat’s offensive system. “But, again, I played in the triangle under Phil Jackson [with the Los Angeles Lakers], so you can catch on to anything if you can play in the triangle.
“It’s just a little bit of studying, a little bit more understanding, a little bit more getting familiar with the personnel.”