Offseason clock ticking for some

MIAMI — The best form of NBA player evaluation is playoff evaluation.

The question now for the Miami Heat is whether there will be such an evaluation period ahead of offseason free-agency decisions with Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, Omer Yurtseven, Haywood Highsmith and possibly even Victor Oladipo.

Based on the Heat’s current standing in the play-in bracket, their season could be over within days of the April 9 close of the regular season, ahead of the April 15 start of the playoffs.

Last year Vincent and Strus both had their moments in the Heat’s run within one game of the NBA Finals. Had the two reached free agency then, there likely would have been significant payoffs.

Now it is their performances in the playoff race that could determine their value either in Miami or elsewhere, with the Heat on Friday night facing the New York Knicks at Miami-Dade Arena.

With the Heat currently positioned to be operating well into the punitive luxury tax next season, such decisions with the back end of the roster could come under increased scrutiny, after the Heat went all in with a five-year, $90 million contract in the 2021 offseason to Duncan Robinson, who has fallen out of the rotation.

To a degree the Heat have five players currently on the clock when it comes to the June 30 start of NBA free agency.

Max Strus: Earning $1.8 million this season, Strus will be an unrestricted free agent. The Heat hold full Bird Rights, able to exceed the salary cap to re-sign him without having to utilize salary-cap exceptions.

Considering Strus has started 27 games, there is faith from the coaching staff. But there also have been recent struggles that could alter the perspective, particularly if the Heat remain tethered to Robinson and his contract.

The playoff race offers the opportunity for Strus, 26, to reset the narrative by infusing the Heat’s sagging 3-point game with needed conversions.

Gabe Vincent: Earning $1.8 million this season, Vincent will be an unrestricted free agent. The Heat hold full Bird Rights, able to exceed the salary cap to re-sign him without having to utilize salary-cap exceptions.

As with Strus, the opportunity still should be there during the playoff race, with Kyle Lowry still sidelined by the knee pain that has had him out since the start of February.

While Vincent, 26, drew notice with his standout play when Lowry

was sidelined during last season’s playoffs, he has not fared nearly as well in consistent minutes this season.

Working in Vincent’s favor is that Lowry remains under contract for next season amid his injury uncertainty, without another point guard in the Heat pipeline.

Omer Yurtseven: Earning $1.8 million this season, Yurtseven will become a restricted free agent if the Heat make the necessary $2.2 million qualifying offer by late June. The Heat hold full Bird Rights, able to exceed the salary cap to re-sign him without having to utilize salary-cap exceptions.

At one point the qualifying offer appeared to be a given with the dominant stretch Yurtseven had last season when Bam Adebayo was sidelined, and then how the Heat spent considering time during training camp playing Yurtseven alongside Adebayo.

Now, with Yurtseven having yet to play this season while sidelined by November ankle surgery, the Heat potentially could bypass the qualifying offer, something they did at the end of Kendrick Nunn’s first contract, and forgo their right to match outside offers.

As it is, it appears unlikely Yurtseven, 24, will get much of a trial ahead of free agency in light of the solid play of veteran Cody Zeller behind Adebayo.

Haywood Highsmith: Earning $1.8 million this season, Highsmith has a non-guaranteed $1.9 million on the final year of his contract for 2023-24 that has a July 15 guarantee deadline.

Unless the Heat, either through the draft, free agency or summer league, find another minimum-scale player they believe has more upside, it is the type of contract that likely will be valued by a team operating above the luxury tax.

With the Heat wing rotation largely healthy, the opportunity for Highsmith, 26, to showcase himself during the playoff race appears unlikely.

Victor Oladipo: The decision on free agency is up to Oladipo, who holds a $9.5 million player option for 2023-23 that must be exercised by June 29.

While it initially appeared Oladipo, 30, would value longer-term security more than opting in for the second year on the deal signed last summer, his play has been so uneven in recent weeks that it could require an uptick during the remainder of this playoff race to find a higher starting point for a new contract with the Heat or elsewhere.

Udonis Haslem: Has made clear his 20th NBA season, all with the Heat, will be his last.

Kevin Love, Cody Zeller: Both will become unrestricted free agents on June 30, with the Heat positioned only to offer minimal salaries to return, unless they utilize their $7 million taxpayer midlevel exception.

Orlando Robinson, Jamal Cain: The Heat have the ability to extend minimum-scale qualifying offers in late June to both in order to retain the right of first refusal in free agency.

(All others on the Heat roster are locked into salaries for 2023-24.)