Miami picks up Herro’s $5.7M option for ’22-23
The simple part came Friday for the Miami Heat with Tyler Herro, picking up the $5.7 million 2022-23 team option on the guard’s rookie scale contract.
The real decision for Pat Riley and the team’s front office will come a year from now, when the Heat will have to decide whether to move forward with an extension with the 2019 first-round pick, similar to the process that has Bam Adebayo beginning a five-year, $163 million extension this coming season.
Had the Heat not made Friday’s move with Herro’s option, the No. 13 pick in the 2019 draft out of Kentucky would have become a free agent after the coming season. He becomes the first player from the 2019 draft class to have his 2022-23 option picked up.
The machinations make this an especially important season for both the Heat and Herro when it comes to the relationship moving forward.
Herro is expected to play as a sixth man this season, with Jimmy Butler, Duncan Robinson and Kyle Lowry expected to start in the perimeter rotation. The question becomes whether Herro will play on the ball at point guard, or more as instant offense. Herro should have the benefit of extended minutes early in the season, with Victor Oladipo recovering from May quadriceps surgery, and with Goran Dragic and Kendrick Nunn departing during the offseason. But should Oladipo return to his previous form, it could create a Herro-vs.-Oladipo debate when it comes to the team’s salary structure going forward.
Herro becomes the fifth player on the roster locked into a 202223 salary, joining Butler, Lowry, Adebayo and Robinson. Forward P.J. Tucker has a player option for 2022-23, with the Heat holding 2022-23 team options on Gabe Vincent, Max Strus and Omer Yurtseven.
Herro has been subject of trade rumors over the past year, remaining a prime trade chip now that he is locked under contract for an additional season.
In many ways, this has been his first true NBA offseason, with the 2020 offseason reduced to mere weeks due to the pandemic-delayed close to 2019-20. It was during that season that Herro helped lift the Heat to the NBA Finals.
Herro, 21, said bulking up has been an offseason priority.
“Having a certain amount of calories I eat in a day. I’m getting stronger every day and putting on weight,” he said during an appearance at the Heat’s youth camp this summer. “I got some work to do.
“Getting stronger, I can get to my spots easier and just being able to defend bigger guys than me. I want to be able to be as big as the rest of the vets are in the league.”
Among the highlights of Herro’s offseason was being named to the U.S. Select team, which scrimmaged in Las Vegas against the national team in advance of the Olympics.
“Obviously one day I would love to represent USA as a country and play in the Olympics,” he said. “I’m sure that’s a lot of players’ dreams, but obviously there’s a lot of work to be done.”