The Miami Heat have signed guard Dru Smith to a three-year contract, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania first reported Saturday.
The deal is worth $7.9 million, according to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto. According to the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson, only the first year of the contract is guaranteed. He’s the 14th player on roster after the Heat traded Haywood Highsmith plus a second-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets on Friday.
Smith, who turns 28-years-old in December, has played just 23 combined games over the last two seasons after suffering two season-ending knee injuries — tearing his ACL in 2023-24 before rupturing his achilles last season.
He averaged 6.2 points and 2.6 rebounds across 19.1 minutes per game last year, shooting just 50.8 percent from the floor and 53.3 percent from 3-point range on 2.1 triple tries.
Smith, who was an undrafted free agent in 2021, has played just 38 career games since first debuting in 2022-23. For his career, he’s averaged 4.5 points, 1.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.1 steals.
The Heat now have a glut of guards, including Davion Mitchell, Kasparas Jakucionis, Terry Rozier, Tyler Herro and Pelle Larsson. I’m not necessarily sure where Smith fits into the mix, but the Heat, once again, is back in the Dru Smith business.
I would not have done it, but I am also not the Heat. If he’s able to play efficient basketball, this would be a super cool comeback story.
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Not crazy about this signing. Yeah, it’s kind of like a one year deal, but they must really feel good about his health because I sure as heck am not as confident.
Interesting move. Everyone agreed that Dru showed potential when healthy. And the contract is only fully guaranteed for 1 year. But I still feel another small move could happen – move more salary out and sign Jones? Waiting to see what’s next. I may not have very high expectations, but I will enjoy watching this team.
I like Dru. I wish him well. Prior to today, if it hadn’t been for bad luck, he would have had no luck at all.
Mitchell, Herro, Powell, Wiggins, Bam
Smith, Larsson, Jaquez, Jovic, Ware
Jakucionis, Rozier, Johnson, Fontecchio, ?
Just spitballin here, but what if:
I think Riley is still looking for a good trade or two.
Larsson 6th man of the year sunman are we smoking crack
This was a hypothetical best case scenario with existing personnel.
Homie don’t smoke crack.
https://selltreez-product-shared-bucket-prod-us-west-2.s3.amazonaws.com/product/6700def5-cc75-44cc-9a11-1524b33b17ee/15f1c8e9-1e77-4dae-9a40-9a9fbb1c7409/1e43a152-f84f-4022-a2c6-0c66c86e9e70_137066d4-2d94-48f6-af89-62fc0396adb1_null_26-09-24-11-37-22
I actually am as big of a Larsson fan as they come so I will take up the Larsson 6MOTY mantle if you don’t. Love this kid
I like Larsson as much as anyone on here, I think he has 6MOTY potential, but for this upcoming season…I want our 6th man to be either mitchell or jovic.
Jovic will be in the running for MIP if he stays healthy. A big IF
what are u on then.
Life. High on life. You should try it some time. It’s addictive.
I consider this really good news. This must mean the Heat expect a full recovery. This guy, if healthy, will help us. Our other guards aren’t as good as Dru is at ball handling, the secure moving into the offensive zone efficiently and early enough to organize the offense. Ball handling isn’t the only parameter of playing the point, but there are moments in a game when it’s very important to have that going for us.
shooting defense when healthy last year was phenomenal .small sample size but like what i see.like him more than mitchell