South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Is Olynyk an expiring commodity for Heat?
MIAMI — With Kelly Olynyk back in the news this week with the knee injury that has him temporary sidelined for the Canadian national team, it is a reminder that the Miami Heat are approaching a crossroads with the player who ended last season as their starting power forward.
On one hand, Olynyk still has two years left on the four-year, $50 million contract he signed with the Heat in the 2017 offseason.
On the other, he has the right to opt out next summer into free agency.
At $13.2 million for 2020-21, he just might do that, based on where salaries went this past offseason and the slim pickings on the 2020 freeagent market.
ESPN’s current projections of the top power forwards available in 2020 free agency have the top of the list as Jerami Grant, Paul Millsap, Serge Ibaka, Marcus Morris and Jae Crowder. A repeat of his play last season could have Olynyk as a viable alternative.
And that could create decisions for the Heat.
As it is, if Olynyk remains on the books under his current contract, the Heat likely can maximize about $12 million in 2020 cap space, assuming that James Johnson does not opt out of his $16 million for 2020-21 (an assumption that also means parting with Goran Dragic).
However, should Olynyk opt out, it could drive that figure upwards of $25 million. While that’s not enough for a max-tier free agent, it would put the Heat among a half dozen or so teams able to reach that level.
As with Dragic, and to a lesser degree Meyers Leonard, that could have the Heat weighing to cash out with Olynyk at February’s NBA trading deadline, to at least get something in return rather than a July parting with nothing in return.
That, of course, could further weaken the 2019-20 approach at a time the Heat are paying Jimmy Butler $32.7 million, in the first year of his four-year deal that includes an optout after the third season.
The alternative could eventually be re-upping with Olynyk next summer on a long-term contract that replaces the option year. The complication with such an approach is that it could then freeze the Heat out of 2021 free agency, when the robust outside possibilities could include Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bradley Beal, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Blake Griffin, Jrue Holiday and Victor Oladipo.
It is why every game with Olynyk, especially the early season-games with Olynyk, will matter, because by the trading deadline the Heat may have to know where they are headed in their power rotation and how Olynyk, still only 28, fits into that mix.
If James Johnson reemerges, it could make an Olynyk parting easier.
If Derrick Jones Jr., an impending 2020 free agent, continues to bulk up and proves viable in such a role, it adds a potential lower-cost element to the equation.
Or perhaps even after casting Hassan Whiteside aside the Heat recognize that Bam Adebayo’s true NBA calling is at power forward, alongside a bulkier post presence.
Olynyk missing an exhibition or two with the Canadian national team is one thing.
Olynyk being forced to step aside for Canada prior to the World Cup certainly would be a personally painful moment, one at the moment not anticipated.
But, from a Heat perspective, what would matter most would be losing any time — camp, preseason, early season — with Olynyk in a process that could have implications with the Heat’s power rotation and salary cap for years to come. SunSentinel.com Sun Sentinel
In the lane
Hair today… : Although not yet the retiring type himself, Heat forward Udonis Haslem said he has made a point of keeping up with recently retired Heat guard Dwyane Wade. Among their recent interactions was a recent FaceTime session that proved eye opening. “I just FaceTimed him the other day and I couldn’t believe he cut his hair,” Haslem said during an interview on the Heat practice court at AmericanAirlines Arena. “I thought it was an old picture until I saw him post some new Li-Nings next to his face and I was like, ‘OK, this is a new picture now.’ I asked him what he was doing, and he was scared to get the old-man wrinkle lines in his head. So he said, he was cutting them because his wife wouldn’t like wrinkle lines in his head. Coming from somebody who had braids for a long time, I understand that. So I get it. I thought he was going through another identity crisis. He’s all over the place … tattooing his knees. I’m like, ‘Where was this? I’ve known you forever.’ “
Everyday Joe: Having relocated to Los Angeles and settled into an everyday routine away from the game, Wade said a recent visit to an Old Navy was eye opening. It seems there is a world out there previously unknown to the fashion icon. “So I go into Old Navy and I start buying stuff,” he told Sports Illustrated. “So I grabbed what I felt was like, [laughs], a lot of stuff, like it’s got to be $100,000. Not a $100,000, but just speaking in that sense. I got up to the register and it was like $500. I was like, ‘Holy s—-, I thought this was way more.’ So I’m kind of freaking out about that kind of stuff. And just to be able to be in L.A. and go shopping and nobody notices me was a cool experience. I never thought I would say that 16 years ago, when I wanted people to notice me. Now I’m going places hoping people don’t.”
Game time: Dealt to the Philadelphia 76ers in the trade for Jimmy Butler, Josh Richardson said the season’s first meeting with the Heat figures to be particularly emotional. “I mean, me, I’m a competitor, so I’m going to look forward to that game. I’m going to bring a lot of intensity. I’m going to be up for that game, because that’s just how I’m wired,” he told NBC6. “Honestly, when I come back here, I want to kill the Heat. I want to beat ‘em by 20. That’s just how I’m built. But if I was on the Heat, I would want to beat Philly by 50, because of how our teams play. When I come back, I know it’s going to be a great game. It’s going to be interesting to see from the other side of things.”
End game: Add Washington Wizards guard John Wall to the list of players who believe a farewell tour must come with the team where a player established his identity. To him, that makes it Denver Nuggets or bust for Carmelo Anthony .In an interview with NBCSports Washington, Wall said mirroring Wade’s return and retirement with the Heat stands as the template. “The only way it is really going to work for Melo is if he goes back to the Nuggets. It has to be a franchise you built something with,” Wall said.
Big number
Years difference between the 17 seasons Udonis Haslem has now been with the Heat and the 11 Stephen Curry has been with the Golden State Warriors, the two longest active NBA streaks with the same franchise.