McGruder deal may be next

MIAMI —Two weeks after signing Justise Winslow to a three-year,

$39 million rookie-scale extension, an argument could be made that the Miami Heat are back on the extension clock.

Although it seemed a long shot before his breakout start to the season, Rodney McGruder has been eligible for an extension since the twoyear anniversary of the minimumscale contract he signed with the Heat on July 7, 2016.

While the Heat can make McGruder, 27, a restricted free agent during the 2019 offseason by extending him a qualifying offer of $1.9 million by June 30, that could leave them open to having to match outside bids during an offseason when the league will be flush with cap cash.

The option would be building an extension off the NBA average salary, similar to the four-year, $42 million extension agreed to with Josh Richardson a year ago. In McGruder’s case, based on allowed raises and the projected average salary of when such an extension would begin in

2019-20, an offer could top out at about $47 million over four seasons.

Such an agreement, which can be negotiated at any point through June 30, would leave the Heat with nine players on the 2019-20 roster earning $10 million or more, should the Heat retain Hassan Whiteside

($27 million in 2019-20), Goran Dragic ($19.2 million), Tyler Johnson

($19.2 million), James Johnson ($15.3 million), Kelly Olynyk ($13 million), Winslow ($13 million) Dion Waiters

($12.1 million) and Richardson ($10.1 million). Whiteside, Tyler Johnson and Dragic hold player options for

2019-20.

An extension with McGruder also could complicate the Heat’s freeagency position in 2020, when the Whiteside, Tyler Johnson and Dragic contracts would be off the books. The Heat already have player options on their 2020-21 books for James Johnson ($16 million), Olynyk

($13.6 million), as well as guarantees to Winslow ($13 million), Waiters

($12.7 million) and Richardson ($10.9 million). Bam Adebayo has a rookiescale team option for 2020-21 at $5.1 million.

For McGruder, who went undrafted in 2013 out of Kansas and then played in Hungary and the G League before joining the Heat, an extension would be yet another unexpected leap. In his first three NBA seasons, he earned $543,000 in 2016-17, $1.3 million last season and now $1.5 million this season.

Wayne’s world: Among the reasons Wayne Ellington said he was so eager to return from his preseason ankle injury were the possibilities created by the NBA’s new freedom-ofmovement guidelines.

Amid his emergence last season as one of the league’s premier 3-point threats, Ellington often found himself involved in something close to hand-fighting in order to gain clearance to launch.

“It’s exciting,” the veteran guard said before Saturday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers at AmericanAirlines Arena. “Defenses can’t touch you as much, can’t bump you off your path as much.”

As he sat, he noted the league’s move to even more 3-point shooting, including attempts taken earlier in the clock by pushing the pace.

“A lot of threes have been shot, the ball’s been moving. It has sped up,” he said. “The amount of movement falls right into the perfect place for some success for me on the offensive end.”

Still valued: Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said even with his roster getting healthier, he does not want Richardson backing off his emerging position of offensive leadership.

“Certainly the strength is in our depth and our versatility, that we have guys that can do different things and have different strengths,” Spoelstra said. “We have to maximize that. So whether that’s a different scorer every night, I don’t know if that is it. J-Rich has to be assertive for us.”