Heat’s trade options expanded, and a rundown of its cap exceptions
Every player on theHeat’s roster is now eligible to be traded.
The Heat’s free-agent acquisitions from November — Avery Bradley, Goran Dragic, Moe Harkless, Udonis Haslem and Meyers Leonard — became eligible to be traded on Saturday.
In fact, most free agents around the NBA who were signed this past offseason became trade-eligible on Saturday.
There is an asterisk next to the names of Dragic, Haslem and Leonard, though, as all three must approve any trade they’re a part of because of NBA rules that say players who are on a one-year contract (excluding any option year) and will have Bird or Early Bird rights at the end of the season have the right to veto a trade.
The Heat is about $8 million away from the luxury tax line of $132.627 million, which Miami is not looking to cross this season after paying a luxury tax last season. But that room still gives the Heat some cushion for a potential trade if it wants to take in more salary than it sends out (within cap rules) at the March 25 trade deadline or before then.
The Heat also has a few exceptions to work with, including a $7.6 million trade exception that was obtained from last February’s trade with the Memphis Grizzlies and a $3.6 million biannual exception. Miami can also add a free agent using the minimum salary exception.
In addition, the Heat is expected to apply for and be granted a $4.7 million disabled player exception after center Leonard recently underwent season-ending shoulder surgery.
Trade exceptions allow teams to trade for a player whose salary fits into the exception without having to send back salary, and the Heat’s $7.6 million exception expires March 22. The trade exception can’t be combined with a player to acquire a more expensive salary.
The $3.6 million biannual exception is available to the Heat because it fit Bradley and Harkless into the $9.3 midlevel exception in free agency this past offseason to preserve the biannual option.
The biannual exception may be split and given to more than one player, and can be used to sign a player for up to two seasons at
$7.4 million. But this exception can’t be used in consecutive seasons.
The disabled player exception of $4.7 million that the Heat is expected to receive is worth half of the disabled player’s salary, which in this case is Leonard’s $9.4 million salary for this season.
If granted, the disabled player exception can be used by the Heat to sign a free agent on a salary up to $4.7 million for the rest of the season, to trade for a player in the final season of his contract worth $4.7 million or less, or to claim a player on waivers who is in the final season of his contract worth $4.7 million or less.
Teams have until March 3 to apply for a disabled player exception and until April 19 to actually use it. Miami is permitted to use the disabled player exception and still keep Leonard on its roster.
But it’s important to note that the Heat would have to trade or release a player to open a roster spot to use any of these exceptions. Miami currently has the league-maximum of 15 players signed to standard deals on its roster.
Also, none of these exceptions can be combined to create a larger salary to acquire one player.
THIBODEAU ON BUTLER
Heat star Jimmy Butler’s first NBA coach was Tom Thibodeau. Then after five seasons together with the Chicago Bulls,
Thibodeau got another opportunity to coach Butler with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
What was Thibodeau’s vision for a young Butler?
“We always felt he would be a good solid rotation player,” said Thibodeau, who is in his first season as the New York Knicks’ coach. “To say that we saw him as a superstar, we didn’t see that. But that’s why you can never measure what’s inside a person’s heart, his head, his drive. He’s just such a great worker and so smart, he got better every year to the point now that he’s one of the elite players in the league and the impact that he has on the game is unbelievable. He plays the right way. He plays for his teammates, he plays to win.”