Heat have an uneven history of contracts for the ages

MIAMI — You start here: Confidence in older players both financially and strategically is nothing new with the Miami

Heat during the quarter-century-plus of the Pat Riley Era.

So for all the outside consternation regarding the deals signed in the 2021 offseason by Kyle Lowry and Jimmy Butler, deals that take Butler into his mid 30s and Lowry into his late 30s, such has been the approach beyond this current Heat pay/age ratio.

Yes, there have been moments that have created pause along the way, including hardball with franchise icon Dwyane Wade at age 34 in 2016, when he felt slighted and signed with his hometown Chicago Bulls, or even this past summer, when there was initial trepidation about extending a three-year deal to P.J. Tucker at age 37, with Tucker instead signing such a contract with the Philadelphia 76ers (luxury tax proved to be more of a factor there for the Heat than age).

Still, there have been ample Heat/Riley contracts for the ages, including several with ample payoff from players signed by the Heat in their 30s, most notably Shaquille O’Neal and arguably, even now, Butler.

Victor Oladipo, 2022, age 30, two years, $18 million: This was somewhat of a compromise deal, with Oladipo moving off an initial one-year, $11 million agreement in order to provide the Heat with greater cap flexibility while providing Oladipo with the insurance of an option year. At the moment, taking that extra year proved prudent on Oladipo’s part.

Kyle Lowry, 2021, age 35, three years, $85 million: The Heat reportedly were the only suitor willing to go three years out, fully guaranteed on the deal that will take Lowry through his 38th

birthday. While this season’s start has been uneven, Lowry helped lift the Heat to last season’s best record in the Eastern Conference before a playoff injury marred his postseason and cast questions moving forward.

Jimmy Butler, 2021, age 32, four years, $184 million (extension):

Butler will be 37 at the end of the agreement that kicked in this season, with the Heat seemingly bidding only against themselves with the extension. Still, Butler arguably was as solid as any player this side of Stephen Curry in last season’s playoffs and remains among the league’s elite.

Andre Iguodala, 2020, age 36, two years, $30 million (extension):

The agreement proved to be for only one season, with the Heat opting out of the second year of the extension. But the contract was the price for being able to acquire the veteran forward at the 2020 NBA trading deadline, a move that helped fuel the team’s run to the 2020 NBA Finals.

Goran Dragic, 2020, age 34, two years, $38 million:

As with Iguodala’s extension, this was a nuanced deal, with the Heat able to use the second season to balance the 2021 offseason sign-and-trade for Lowry under the salary cap. To a degree, this was a payoff for services rendered in helping the Heat advance to the 2020 NBA Finals.

James Johnson, 2017, age 30, four years, $60 million:

No, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. The Heat got out of some of the money on the back end with the deal at the 2020 NBA trading deadline for Iguodala and Joe Crowder, leaving the Johnson contract with somewhat of a positive payoff.

Dwyane Wade, 2015, age 33, one year, $20 million:

This was before it got ugly a year later, with Wade’s 2016 free-agency departure to the Bulls. A year earlier, the Heat prioritized Chris Bosh in 2014 free agency, which started what turned into an ugly Wade spin cycle.

Chris Bosh, 2014, age 30, five years, $119 million:

In an ultimate game of hardball, Bosh demanded a max deal in the wake of LeBron James’ defection hours earlier back to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Then came Bosh’s blood clots the following two seasons. If not for the illness, this well still could have proven a value deal.

Mike Miller, 2010, age 30, five years, $29 million:

Not necessarily a bad deal, considering there were championships in 2012 and ‘13. Still, three years into the deal, with Miller dealing with nagging injuries, the Heat released him through the amnesty provision, in a cap-saving move. It was, in the end, a contract that opened eyes to adding an older contributor.

Shaquille O’Neal, 2005, age 33, five years, $100 million:

To a degree, this was the contract the Los Angeles Lakers did not want to pay when they dealt O’Neal to the Heat in the 2004 offseason. The upshot was a Heat championship in 2006, a declining O’Neal from there, and eventually offloading of the deal to the Phoenix Suns before the third of the five years on the deal was completed.

Tim Hardaway, 2000, age 34, one year, $12 million:

This was a grudging acknowledgement of previous services rendered but also the beginning of the end of Hardaway with the Heat, a contract tied to weigh-ins and conditioning factors. A year later, Hardaway was playing for the Dallas Mavericks for $3.4 million.

MICHAEL LAUGHLIN/SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL Pat Riley, above, has not been shy about writing lucrative contracts for Heat players in their 30s. That has all eyes now on Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry. But there also is an ample, uneven history of such deals with the team.