Roster picture should be clearer by Thursday
Derrick Jones Jr.
As July turns to August, the Miami Heat this week will have to turn to three bookkeeping matters that will determine whether flexibility will remain for an additional roster move before training camp.
Thursday marks the deadline for a trio of Heat guarantee deadlines, two of which would appear clear cut based on significant strides in the team’s developmental program, while the third could open the door to a potential return by veteran forward Udonis Haslem.
With 10 players under fully guaranteed contracts for 2019-20, and with the Heat likely to open the season with a 13- or 14-player roster due to the hard salary cap that resulted from the signing of Jimmy Butler, the Aug. 1 guarantees have financial and flexibility implications.
One of those decisions appears to be as much a slam dunk as the player himself.
As part of shifting Derrick Jones Jr. from a two-way contract to a standard deal at the start of the 2018 offseason, the Heat set an Aug. 1 deadline for the full guarantee on Jones’ $1.6 million for the coming season.
Jones was among Heat players who worked with the team’s staff in Las Vegas during summer league and has been a regular fixture at the Miami Pro League, where he has scrimmaged with Heat teammates Bam Adebayo, Dion Waiters and James Johnson, among others.
While not as certain as Jones’ guarantee, summer revelation Kendrick Nunn also appears assured of having his guarantee picked up at his Aug. 1 deadline.
Signed the final day of the season so he could be funneled into the Heat’s offseason workouts, the 2018 undrafted guard out of Oakland University thrived with the Heat in both the Sacramento and Las Vegas summer leagues. He received a $50,000 guarantee on July 1, with his staggered guarantee schedule on his $1.4 million 2019-20 contract calling for a $150,000 guarantee Thursday and then a $450,000 guarantee if he is on the opening-night roster.
The third of Thursday’s guarantee deadlines is a bit more tenuous, as much a product of the roster as the productivity of the player himself.
Forward Yante Maten, who already has had $100,000 of his 2019-20 salary guaranteed, is due to have that guarantee raised to $150,000 on Thursday. While the Heat could still meet that deadline and maintain flexibility to swap out his roster spot for another player under the hard cap, Maten endured a somewhat uneven summer league after thriving last season for the Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce.
Maten’s guarantee on his $1.4 million 2019-20 contract rises to $300,000 on opening night and then $450,000 on Dec. 1.
Because Maten has already received a guarantee in excess of $50,000, he is ineligible to play for the Heat on another two-way contract.
In addition to the 13 or 14 players on the openingnight roster, the Heat can sign up to two players to two-way contracts, with those contracts not counting against the salary cap, luxury tax or hard cap. Those moves could come from the trio of players signed at the close of summer league to Exhibit 10 contracts — Chris Silva, Jeremiah Martin and Kyle Alexander — with each guaranteed no more than $50,000.
Teams are allowed to carry a maximum of 20 players until opening night, with the current Heat roster at 17. The limit is reduced to 15 for the regular season.
The 10 players under full guaranteed contract at this stage for the Heat are Butler, Goran Dragic, Johnson, Justise Winslow, Waiters, Kelly Olynyk, Meyers Leonard, Tyler Herro, Adebayo and KZ Okpala.
The Heat open training camp in late September, with the regular season to open in mid-October, with the schedule expected to be released in early August.