Key dates for the Heat in an offseason that began earlier than team planned
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra didn’t expect to start his offseason in early May. He planned to be busy coaching the Heat in the second round of the playoffs right now.
“I literally wasn’t planning on these next two months looking like this,” Spoelstra said on Heat exit interview day earlier this month. “So we have a much longer offseason.”
A longer offseason than recent seasons, as the
Heat made it all the way to the Eastern Conference finals in 2022 and NBA Finals in 2023 before being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs this year by the Boston Celtics on May 1.
But the Heat’s long offseason will be filled with work to build next season’s roster. The team will be well-represented when the league converges in Chicago this week for the NBA Draft Combine to evaluate prospects in person. Teams will continue to study college players until the draft late next month.
Here’s a rundown of key dates and deadlines ...
Today through May 19: The NBA Draft Combine will be held in Chicago. Among those from the Heat expected to attend are president Pat Riley; general manager Andy Elisburg; assistant general manager Adam Simon; vice president of player personnel Eric Amsler; director of college and pro scouting Keith Askins; scouts Bob Staak, Jack Fitzgerald and Bob McAdoo; senior director of team development Ruth Hunter; and scouting operations coordinator
Jeff Saunders.
June 15 or shortly thereafter: The Heat and other NBA teams can begin negotiating with their own impending free agents on the day after the last game of the NBA Finals, which could be as early as June 15 or as late as June 24.
For the Heat, that means negotiations can begin with Caleb Martin
(if he opts out of his $7.1 million player option, as expected), Haywood Highsmith and others.
June 26: The first round of the NBA Draft, with the Heat holding the 15th pick in the first round. The Heat is not permitted to trade its first-round pick before the draft because it owes a lottery-protected 2025 first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the NBA doesn’t allow teams to be without consecutive future first-round picks.
But the Heat could select a player on behalf of another team in the draft as part of a trade that’s agreed to before or during the draft, but is announced and finalized afterward.
June 27: The second round of the draft, with the Heat holding the 43rd overall pick. NBA teams can buy and sell secondround selections.
June 29: The deadline for most contract options around the NBA. This is the deadline for Thomas Bryant ($2.8 million player option), Kevin Love ($4 million player option), Martin ($7.1 million player option) and Josh Richardson ($3.1 million player option) to pick up the 2024-25 player options in their contracts and stay on the Heat’s books.
If they don’t exercise the player options in their deals, they will become unrestricted free agents this summer.
This is also the final day for the Heat to issue qualifying offers to Jamal
Cain, Cole Swider and Alondes Williams to make them restricted free agents.
June 30: Free-agent negotiations can begin at 6 p.m. The Heat’s impending free agents include Highsmith, Patty Mills and Delon Wright, among others.
July 1: The NBA’s free agency moratorium begins at 12:01 a.m. for all contracts other than the signing of first-round picks and minimum deals (two years or less). Restricted free agents are also still allowed to sign an offer sheet, and third-year and fourth-year rookie options can still be exercised. Two-way contracts can also still be signed and converted during the moratorium.
July 6: The NBA’s moratorium is lifted at noon, as teams can sign free agents, trades based on the new salary-cap year can become official and the clock begins on offer sheets signed during the moratorium.
This is also the date that the Heat is expected to begin summer league action as part of the California Classic at Chase Center in San Francisco. The game schedule has not yet been announced.
July 7: Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler both become extension eligible.
Adebayo, who turns 27 on July 18, will be eligible to sign a four-year, $245 million extension this offseason if he meets the supermax criteria.
The only way Adebayo can still become eligible for the supermax this offseason is by being named to an All-NBA team (first, second or third) for this season, which will be announced later in the playoffs.
If Adebayo doesn’t qualify for the supermax, he will instead be eligible this summer for a threeyear contract worth $165 million. Any extension Adebayo signs this offseason would begin in the 2026-27 season.
Butler, who turns 35 on Sept. 14, will be eligible to sign a two-year contract extension worth about
$113 million this offseason.
This extension would replace his 2025-26 player option worth $52.4 million and begin that season.
This two-year max extension would include salaries of $54.3 million for the 2025-26 season (nearly a $2 million increase from the player option in Butler’s current contract for that season) and $58.6 million for the 2026-2027 season when Butler will be 37.
The Heat will have until June 30, 2025, to sign Butler to this two-year max extension, but Butler and his camp will push to sign this max extension prior to the start of next season.
July 12: Las Vegas summer league begins and runs through July 22. After playing in the California Classic, the Heat will join the league’s other 29 teams for Las Vegas summer league. The game schedule has not yet been announced.
July 13: The final day to withdraw a qualifying offer from a restricted free agent. Among those who could become restricted free agents for the Heat this summer are Cain, Swider and Williams.
July 15: The deadline for the Heat to guarantee developmental center Orlando Robinson’s full $2.1 million salary for this upcoming season. If the Heat decides not to guarantee Robinson’s salary, he would become an unrestricted free agent.
July 27: Men’s basketball at the Summer Olympics in Paris begins on this day, with games running through Aug. 10. Spoelstra will serve as a Team USA assistant coach and Adebayo is on the national team’s 12-man roster.
Meanwhile, two other players from the Heat’s season-ending roster are also expected to represent their home countries in the Olympics this summer: Nikola Jovic for Serbia and Mills for Australia.
Aug. 31: This is the final day for NBA teams to use the waive-and-stretch provision ahead of next season, which allows teams to shed salary by waiving a player and stretching the money owed to that player over multiple seasons.
Oct. 1: The Heat is expected to open training camp ahead of the 202425 season on this day.