Free agency allowsHeat to retain something familiar
Pr e-agency ended Thursday for the Miami Heat when center Kelly Olynyk opted into his $12.6 million 2020-21 salary.
That means Pat Riley, Andy Elisburg and the team’s front office have their numbers in place for Friday’s 6 p.m. start of NBA free agency.
For the Heat there essentially now is either Plan A or Plan B when it comes to dealing with the 2020-21 NBA salary cap.
Plan A is as simple as bringing back as many of the team’s incumbent free agents as Riley and his staff choose, with the ability to also utilize all or part of the full $9.3 million mid-level exception for an outside free agent, aswell as the$3.6 million bi-annual exception for an outside free agent, with all of that math not to exceed the $136 million payroll limit for the luxury tax.
Plan B is to operate utilizing salary-cap space up to the $109 million soft team cap, aswell as a smaller $4.8 million mid-level exception and the $3.6 million bi-annual exception. Under that approach, all players, even the Heat’s incumbent free agents, would have to fit within the $109 million — roughly $22 million of spending money — other than those signed with exception money.
Based on Riley ’s comments in the wake of
Wednesday’s NBA draft, Plan A appears the more likely Heat course, allowing the team to sign as many of the team’s incumbent free agents as desired, a group that includes Goran Dragic, Jae Crowder, Derrick Jones Jr., Meyers Leonard, Solomon Hill and Udonis Haslem, who already said he plans to return.
Such an approach could leave the Heat in position to spend up to all of the $9.3 million mid-level exception on an outside free agent, or split that total among multiple players.
Riley said he appreciates that there are no givens and can be no assumptions when it comes to free agency.
“I have great faith in our guys. I think we have great chemistry. I think they have the same feeling themselves,” he said. “But now we’re getting down to the business side of things and I totally get it and I totally understand what free agency means to players.
“So with our free agents, we’re going to sit down and we’ll talk to them. I feel good about it, but you just never know what’s going to happen from that standpoint.”
Already on the Heat books for 2020-21 season are Jimmy Butler ($34.4 million), Andre Iguodala ($15 million), Olynyk ($12.6 million), BamAdebayo($5.1 million), Tyler Herro (3.8 million), Duncan Robinson ($1.7 million), KendrickNunn($ KZ Okpala ($1.5 million), Chris
Silva ($1.5 million), plus the cap hold of $2.6 million for the contract of first-round pick Precious Achiuwa. All of those salaries are fully guaranteed.
In addition, the Heat have 2020-21 cap hits of $5.2 million for Ryan Anderson and $350,000 for A.J. Hammons for contracts previously waived and then “stretched” over multiple cap years.
The Heat also have extended a qualifying offer to guard Gabe Vincent, but that two-way contract does not impact the overall cap.
With Olynyk opting in by Thursday’s 5 p.m. deadline, he nowis eligible to be traded. If he remains with the Heat, he would become a free agent during the 2021 offseason.
Olynyk has a $2 million trade kicker in his contract if dealt. He also has a $1 million playing-time bonus in his contract, one he failed to achieve last season and one that will be prorated with the coming season shortened from the standard 82 games to 72, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While it is possible the Heat spend into the luxury tax, Riley cautioned about the times, with basketball being played amid a pandemic.
“Wehave to be very mindful of the fact that we lost a lot of the season last year,” he said. “This year we’re only going to play 72 games, your gate and having a full house is meaningful.”