McGruder likely will return for a third season
Left leg injury limited guard/small forward to 18 games in 2017-18.
All signs point toward
MIAMI — Rodney McGruder returning for a third season with the Miami Heat.
Barring an unexpected transaction, the team was planning to let today’s 12:01 a.m. dead- line pass on the contract for the 6-foot-5 shooting guard/small forward, assuring his $1.545 million deal is guaranteed for the 201819 season.
McGruder signed a three-year,
partially guaranteed contract for $2.5 million in 2016. By the end, he will have collected on all three years, making $543,471 in 201617 and $1.313 million last season.
Asked about McGruder’s return after last week’s draft, Heat president Pat Riley was noncommit- tal, citing the “tight roster.” But Riley added: “We love Rodney.”
If McGruder’s contract is guaranteed, the Heat will have 10 players under contract for 2018-19 who are due about $119 million. That puts Miami about $18 million above the projected $101 million salary cap and close to the projected $123 million luxury-tax line.
McGruder, who turns 27 this month, played in just 18 games last
season after undergoing surgery in October to repair a stress fracture in his left tibia. His role was limited, and he averaged just 5.1 points and 16.6 minutes.
“Rodney was on his way,” coach Erik Spoelstra said after the season. “He was probably the most productive player in training camp and through the beginning of preseason, and he had basically 80 percent of his regular season taken away from him — and then a totally different role than probably he anticipated and probably what he certainly was going to earn based on his offseason and the beginning of the season.”
McGruder burst onto the scene in 2016-17, making an NBA roster for the first time on the final cutdown day. McGruder, who had played two years in the developmental league and a year in Hungary, stepped in for the injured Justise Winslow and started 65 games at small forward. He finished the season playing in a team-high 78 games and averaged 6.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists.
Miami relied on McGruder to guard some of the best scoring wings in the league, including Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Paul George and Jimmy Butler. McGruder will battle for playing time on a roster that could be loaded with shooting guards and small forwards, including Dion Waiters, Josh Richardson, Tyler Johnson, Winslow and possibly Wayne Ellington and/or Dwyane Wade.