The clock is ticking.
The Miami Heat and guard Tyler Herro — who has two more years left on his deal, including a $31 million cap hit in 2025-26 — have until Monday to sign a new deal before the one-time All-Star becomes an expiring contract next offseason.
However, the two sides appear to be patient in waiting for a deal, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.
“Tyler Herro is coming off an All-Star season and is definitely interested in extending with the Heat, but there haven’t been substantive talks to his point and a deal is doubtful, sources say,” Windhorst wrote. “In a vacuum, Herro is the player the Heat probably should be most interested in extending, and Herro saw former All-Star Bam Adebayo get a large extension last year. But it doesn’t appear to be in the offing.”
The Heat waiting to extend Tyler Herro makes sense:
The Heat have signed just one of their five extension-eligible players — Nikola Jovic — to a new deal this summer. Jovic, whose deadline to sign a rookie-scale deal was also on Monday, signed a four-year, $62.4 million deal earlier this month. While Jovic has played 107 games with the Heat, it could be a bargain if the 22-year-old makes the growth that many — including myself — are expecting.
Herro, 25, is a different case study.
Ideally, for the 6-foot-5 guard, the two sides would agree to terms right now. He’s coming off the best season of his career. Though in my estimation, he is much closer to his ceiling than some might suggest. Frankly, Herro’s player archetype as a score-first guard with a negative wingspan is flawed! Herro, who’s currently recovering from foot surgery, has also dealt with poor injury luck throughout his career.
Herro averaged 23.9 points, 5.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game last year on a remarkable 60.5 percent true shooting. Even though his efficiency (understandably) regressed the last month of the season, it was a great season for him.
It makes sense for the Heat, who want to keep their books clear, to wait. They should be in no rush to ink Herro — nor should they be for Norman Powell or Andrew Wiggins. Miami’s still trying to find an identity post-Jimmy Butler. Letting the season play out before showering money on vets you don’t plan to build around long-term wouldn’t make sense, especially if they’re not premier talents (Herro, Wiggins, Powell aren’t, respectfully).
That doesn’t mean you don’t extend them at all. Though we haven’t seen what Powell, 32, looks like in this context; we’ve barely seen Wiggins, 30, because he was dealing with injury for most of his abbreviated Heat stint last year, and the results were underwhelming. Herro, who’s dealt with his own flaws, doesn’t project to be a player worth paying at least $35-40 million to in today’s NBA, where every $ matters.
Would you extend Herro before the season? Let us know in the comments!
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I’ve been saying this every time the subject comes up. If Tyler wants an extension, this team needs to go deep into the playoffs, or sign for a bargin. Otherwise, he’s an untradeble contract on a first round exit team. Why would the Heat want to extend that?
Every NBA Team’s Win Total Projection for 2025-26 Season
(Sports Illustrated October 15, 2025)
Miami is projected to win a total of 36.5 games in 2025-2026That win total would place the Heat at 21st place in the NBAThat win total would place the Heat at 11th place in the EastWith it’s current roster, Miami is projected to be a lottery team
Miami is at a crossroads. It is projected to be a mediocre play-in or lottery team.
What would it take for Miami to be a (#7-#10) play-in team?What would it take for Miami to be a (#5-#6) play-off team?What would it take for Miami to become a (#3-#4) contending team?What would it take for Miami to become a (#1-#2) elite team?
The Heat has assets that may fetch a good haul early in the early weeks of the season (if Riley acts quickly) or by the trade deadline.
The question is: Will Riley decide to:
1) attempt to make trades to upgrade the team’s roster this season and help lift it out of the depths of mediocrity or
2) maintain the status quo and hope for the best or
3) sell off assets (such as Herro, Powell, Wiggins, Rozier and Fontecchio), to acquire a ss and young talent with high upsides and draft picks to build a better team for the future?
Since Herro is looking for a contract extension in an amount Miami should not pay, Powell, Rozier and Fontecchio are on expiring contracts and Wiggins will probably decide to opt out of his contract in the summer of 2026, I know what I would do.
I would not offer an extension to a player who starts the season on the injured list.
There were about five sentences, quotes from Ira, in this article that I disagreed with. I find that so often to be the case with the Heat and how the team and its personnel are assessed. But I am glad we are holding off on giving Ty that contract.