Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition

Heat sign two of their summer league players.

- By Ira Winderman Staff writer iwinderman@sunsentine­l. com, Twitter @iraheatbea­t or facebook.com/ ira.winderman

MIAMI — The Miami Heat addressed the back end of the roster Monday with a pair of agreements with 3-point backcourt threats to bolster their developmen­tal program.

Shortly after signing undrafted Central Florida 3-point specialist Matt Williams, the Heat announced their first two-way contract agreement, with the signing of undrafted Michigan point guard Derrick Walton Jr.

The agreements differed in form, but ultimately could be similar in scope.

Walton’s agreement does not impact the Heat’s regular-season 15-player roster limit, with teams allowed to sign up to two players to two-way contracts starting this season. Such players are limited to a maximum of 45 days in the NBA per season, otherwise to play with their developmen­tal-league affiliate, which in the Heat’s case is the G-League Sioux Falls Skyforce. Such players cannot receive more than a $50,000 guarantee, with their annual salaries limited to $275,000, based on days of NBA service.

Walton’s contract can be converted to an NBA contract at any time, provided the Heat have the available roster space. He remains Heat property even while in the G-League, unable to be signed away by an opposing team.

Williams, by contrast, signed a standard NBA rookie contract for trainingca­mp, an agreement that still leaves the door open for a two-way contract or an assignment to the Heat’s developmen­tal affiliate. Such agreements cannot come with guarantees beyond $50,000. Williams otherwise would earn the NBA rookie minimum of $815,615 for the ’17-18 NBA season.

As a two-way player, Williams would remain under Heat control. As an affiliate assignment to the developmen­tal league, he then could be claimed by any other NBA team.

Teams are allowed to carry a maximum of 20 players during the offseason, with the Heat roster currently at 16: Hassan Whiteside, James Johnson, Justise Winslow, Dion Waiters, Goran Dragic, Kelly Olynyk, Tyler Johnson, Josh Richardson, Rodney McGruder, Wayne Ellington, Bam Adebayo, Okaro White, Udonis Haslem, A.J. Hammons, Walton and Williams.

The Heat also retain a $4.3 million mid-level salary-cap exception to sign an additional player, with the right to fill out the remaining offseason roster spots at the league minimum.

Williams appeared in eight summer-league games for the Heat earlier this month in Orlando and Las Vegas, making six starts. He averaged 9.9 points and 2.6 rebounds while shooting 38 percent from the field and 39 percent on 3-pointers, making his only two free throws.

After recovering from an ankle sprain that kept him out of the Heat’s first three summer-league games, he shot 45 percent on 3-pointers in the Las Vegas summer league, including 5 of 8 against a similar teams of young players from the Washington Wizards and 6 of 9 on 3-pointers against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Williams, 6-5, finished his collegiate career as UCF’s all-time leader in 3-pointers (274) and became the 18th player in program history to score at least 1,000 points. As a senior, he set the single-season school and conference records for 3-pointers (126) and set the Knights’ singlegame 3-point record with 11 against South Florida on January 17.

Walton, 6-1, played for the Orlando Magic during summer league, appearing in four games and averaging 10.0 points, 3.5 assists, 2.5 rebounds in 20.5 minutes, shooting .469 from the field, 6 of 12 on 3-pointers and 4 of 6 from the foul line.

Walton appeared in 127 games (126 starts) at Michigan, becoming the only player in program history to score at least 1,000 points, grab 500 rebounds and dish out 400 assists. He helped lead the Wolverines to the 2017 Big Ten championsh­ip and was named the Big Ten Tournament MVP.

The agreements with Williams and Walton came in the wake of Heat summer-league prospect Gian Clavell signing with the Dallas Mavericks.

Clavell was the third player from the Heat’s summer roster to reach a contract elsewhere, with guard Jake Odum signing to play in Turkey even before the Heat completed their summer schedule and undrafted BYU center Eric Mika reaching an agreement to play in Italy.

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