Exception not put in play

$5.5M allowance for losing Dion Waiters not worth utilizing in trade

PORTLAND, Ore. — What does $5.5 million buy you in today’s NBA? Apparently not enough to make it worth the Miami Heat’s while.

Granted that exception in January in the wake of what a league medical official determined to be season-ending ankle surgery for Dion Waiters, the Heat faced a Monday deadline to use or lose the exception.

The caveat was that the exception did not come with an additional roster spot, meaning a player from the current season-long, 15-man roster would have had to have been released.

“You apply for the exception because it gives you an opportunity and you never know what you can wind up doing,” General Manager Andy Elisburg said Monday at the Moda Center, before the Heat played the Portland Trail Blazers. “So I think there’s a lot of business during the trading deadline that you had some discussion that would potentially be utilizing it had the trade materialized.”

In the wake of Waiters’ surgery, the Heat’s roster situation appeared dire at times in the wake of injuries to Tyler Johnson and Wayne Ellington, and Rodney McGruder’s recovery from preseason leg surgery.

But then, as the Heat were on the clock with the exception, Dwyane Wade was acquired from the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Feb. 8 NBA trading deadline, as was Luke Babbitt from the Atlanta Hawks. Two weeks later, McGruder made his season debut.

“We wound up doing the trades,” Elisburg said. “We used different mechanisms. You had it as an asset, but it didn’t wind up being used. Obviously we had the ability to use it. We just didn’t. We liked the guys we’ve got. We liked the guys we got at the trade deadline.”

All the while, buyout candidates such as Joe Johnson, Marco Belinelli, Brandon Wright, Greg Monroe, Derrick Rose., Shabazz Muhammad, Corey Brewer and Ersan Ilyasova signed with teams deemed to have stronger playoff outlooks.

Eventually, it reached the point where the market dwindled to the likes of Tony Allen, Boris Diaw, Jimmer Fredette, players just as likely available for the league minimum, with the Milwaukee Bucks taking that approach over the weekend with Brandon Jennings.

In addition, several players considered buyout candidates remained in place at and after the trading deadline, including Tyreke Evans, Vince Carter, Channing Frye and Tyson Chandler, none any longer able to be playoff-eligible elsewhere.

The $5.5 million exception for Waiters’ absence could only be used on a replacement player in the final year of a contract, be it on a free agent, in a trade or for a waiver claim. The exception could not be aggregated with any other contract or exception, such as the Heat’s remaining share of their mid-level exception.

“The fact that it’s only a one-year contract certainly limits its uses versus other mechanisms,” Elisburg said.

Even with the expiration of the Waiters’ exception, the Heat still can add a player to their playoff roster, provided such a player was not on another NBA roster on anything more than a 10-day contract since March 1.

In addition, should the Heat choose to clear playoff roster spots for their own players on two-way contracts, Derrick Jones Jr. and Derrick Walton Jr., it would require opening space on the current 15-player roster.

There was no cost or consequence from the Heat applying for the exception for Waiters and he still would be able to return this season or in the playoffs if possible, which is not expected, with his cast only last week removed.

“There was no cap or tax or financial issues,” Elisburg said.

The Heat already have been operating above the NBA salary cap. Utilizing the $5.5 million exception would not have put the Heat into the luxury tax.

The Heat still could utilize their mid-level exception, which is allowed to be used on multi-year contracts.

“That still remains an opportunity if something comes up,” Elisburg said. “We still like our team, so I’m not sure we’ll do anything. But if any opportunity would present itself, that may still be something you have the ability to use.”

Waiters has three additional seasons remaining on the four-year, $52 million contract he signed as a free agent in July.

JOHN MCCALL/STAFF FILE PHOTO Heat guard Dion Waiters has three more seasons left on his four-year, $52 million deal he signed with the team last summer.