The Miami Heat’s season ended in painful fashion with a 127-126 overtime loss to the Charlotte Hornets in the 9-10 play-in game earlier this month. So it’s officially time for the offseason, where the Heat will have plenty of work ahead of them. Let’s examine their cap situation this summer!
Heat players under contract:
As we briefed in our offseason preview, the Heat will have 12 players under contract next season. Although they only have seven players whose contracts don’t have any option or are not fully guaranteed:
- Bam Adebayo — $49.5M; 29.8 percent of the cap
- Tyler Herro — $33M; 20.0 percent of the cap
- Nikola Jovic — $16.2M; 9.8 percent of the cap
- Davion Mitchell — $12.4M; 7.5 percent of the cap
- Jaime Jaquez Jr. — $5.9M; 3.6 percent of the cap
- Kel’el Ware — $4.6M; 2.8 percent of the cap
- Kasparas Jakucionis — $3.8M; 2.3 percent of the cap
With so many moving financial pieces — from guaranteed deals to potential cap holds — projecting Miami’s flexibility can feel like working through combinations, not unlike using tools such as a Parlay calculator at Thunderpick to map out different outcomes.
Which players have options?:
There are three total players who have either a player- or team-option this summer.
- Andrew Wiggins — $30.2M (player option)
- Pelle Larsson — $2.3M (team option)
- Jahmir Young — $2.4M (team option)
Each team and player has until June 29, 2026, the day before the start of the new league year, to either exercise or decline said options. When those options are declined, they become unrestricted free agents, unless they’re declined as part of an extension.
Which players have partial or non guarantees?:
The majority of NBA contracts are guaranteed. But there are some exceptions to the rule to help team potentially create more flexibility with their cap. In this instance, the Heat have two players whose contracts are not guaranteed.
- Dru Smith — $2.6M (non-guaranteed)
- Myron Gardner — $2.6M (partial; $500K)
Smith’s contract will become fully guaranteed if he’s still on the roster on June 28, 2026. He was in a more featured role than Gardner last season, appearing in a career-high 70 games — nearly doubling the number of games he played in his first three seasons combined (38 games) — averaging 5.6 points and 2.6 assists per game.
Who are their free agents?:
Here are their free agents this summer:
- Norman Powell
- Simone Fontecchio
- Keshad Johnson
At a later date, we’ll do our annual “should he stay or go” for each FA. But the headliner is Powell, who made his first All-Star team with the Heat in 2025-26. Powell, 32, averaged 21.7 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists across 58 games, shooting 47.0 percent from the floor and 38.0 percent from 3-point range.
Powell is eligible to sign a four-year, $128.5 million extension before the start of the new league year. Fontecchio and Johnson will be more limited as to what they can sign, should they re-up. But it remains to be seen if any of them will be brought back.
How does the Heat salary cap look?:
Entering 2026-27, the Heat are projected to be No. 17 in active cap, sandwiched between the Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Clippers. As a result, they will be $40.9 million below the first apron, $53.9 million below the second apron and $35.4 million below the luxury tax. Although they have north of $60 million tied in cap holds, which are essentially place holders until they’re renounced.
None of these accounts for the Heat’s two draft picks. If their first-rounder is No. 13 overall, his first salary will be approaching ~$4.5-5 million. Their second-rounder can either sign a two-way contract (which doesn’t impact cap) or a second-round exception (~$2-$2.5M first year salary). This will cut into that gap a little bit, but Miami can create more flexibility, depending on what happens with Wiggins, Smith, Gardner and others.
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kat over bam any day twice on sundays
Kat’s a big p****y.
“The buzz in NBA circles is that Antetokounmpo wants to play alongside Bam Adebayo, who shares a common agent in Alex Saratsis of Octagon Sports.
The Heat represent the baseline return for Milwaukee, believed to be Antetokounmpo’s desired destination.”
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25420833-how-miami-heat-could-land-giannis-antetokounmpo-blockbuster-trade
No idea how true this is, but thought the Miami offer made sense at the deadline and still does. This article has the trade at Herro, Ware, and 3 firsts, with an option of Jovic included (favors Miami) or Jakucionas (favors Milwaukee).
The offer could only include 2 firsts at the deadline, now can include more. So the timing of why Milwaukee would wait at the deadline til the offseason makes sense
Been assuming Milwaukee trading Giannis will be happening since last offseason, just based on their team. Ryan Rollins is the 2nd best player there. They have their pick this year then don’t control their draft for the next 4 years.
The Heat will have trouble competing with a dozen other teams who would like to trade for him, starting with the Knicks and teams with deep benches and more draft picks than Miami.
Miami is a deep team and has the draft picks, Knicks don’t. Miami also has a good fit on the court, with a lot of players who can play off ball, starting with Bam.
Last year…all the Heat had to do is lose the playin game then assume the draft position Dallas had…then just MAYBE watch the ping pong balls pop for Cooper.
The Heat sure did “assume the position.”
we have to root for the nyk if they win it all or get to finals they wont need greek.his second choice clearly miami.bam tyler and some vanilla ought to get it done.greek is still a top 5 player.hes got 3-5 lebron years left.dudes impossible to stop.only a double d of ty n dunc could stop mr athens..how bout jumping jamals dunc last night the dunc robinson of the year
Try to pay attention for a change. He’s not trading Bam. The starting point will be Ware, Herro, every available draft pick, pick swaps, plus some young WHITE or BLACK or in between players (if you’re going to constantly reference race, be up front and stop with the childish euphemisms).
Don’t forget the brown one. Jus sayin.
Yup, was kinda including that in the ‘in betweens’.
bam and tyler 50% of cap any owner would fire their gm but its a family biz
Here’s a proposal, Riley: get all the “good players you like” that don’t work well as a team and end up as a lottery team next year. I think this’ll satisfy everyone? No? Get Giannis but gut the team. Get Morant who ends up still getting suspended. Get Trae Young who ain’t that young anymore. Get Bradley Beal. We got our stars. But we still were so bad we ended up in the lottery.
“Gotta save money for the 2010 FA class coming up nextt summer”
Pat Riley yesterday during his slick talk status quo it is what it is we have enough excuse making interview yesterday
Salary cap space is fool’s gold this year. Rather than spending every last penny to maintain its mediocre status, Miami should do everything possible to clear its books and accumulate assets (young players and draft picks) for the future.
Keeping Powell, Wiggins, Fontecchio and Herro is not a good idea. The Heat should allow the Powell and Fontecchio contracts to expire, not extend Wiggins and trade Herro, if possible. Trading Herro and Jovic as a package deal would be optimal, although highly unlikely.
Using all its cap space just to have a 5th consecutive season of declining performance/continued mediocrity, makes absolutely no sense if the team can tank without wasting all its cap space on players who will not be part of the team’s long range plans. Either way, the Heat is probably going to be a play-in team at best. Why not save its assets, accumulate another lottery pick next summer, continue developing it’s young players then make a serious effort to upgrade the roster in 2027?
u can tank and take a decade to recover we are 10 30 midway thru the season interest goes to zilch.front running town keep it around 500 and get a ss.i aint digging 3 -5 years of sht ball.be competitive make good trades ala ny ind okc minn.fk tanking losers talk get a better fn gm or whoever the fk is making transactions.it only takes couple good transactions to become relevant.who the f wants to watch a sht tankin team next 3-5 years.
Isn’t a tanking team with a hope for success better than a team struggling to stay relevant? Hovering around .500 every year with no hope in sight for becoming truly competitive isn’t the goal for most Heat fans
At its current trajectory, when will Miami ever become anything more than a mediocre team, especially when other teams all around it are on the upswing?
While Riley is running in place, other GMs are successfully rebuilding their teams and passing Miami by. What may have worked in the past no longer works in today’s NBA. Profit for team owners is not the only barometer for measuring a success.
‘we are 10 30 midway thru the season interest goes to zilch’
So, what, does anyone here feel that 4 straight years of the play-in with each season being worse than the one before, is creating interest? This team is not going to take 3-5 years to be competitive.
when we had jimmy just get in playoffs.get a fn ss dont start from square 1 get a creative gm pats so old he needs more botox
You don’t need to start from square one. You know when you must start from square one? When you have a team of aging 30+ year old veterans and you’ve traded away all your draft picks. That’s what Riley used to do. Now they have a much younger team, better assets, and draft picks. I can’t predict what next season might bring until I see how this offseason plays out.
Exactly.
Herro, Powell and Wiggins are major decisions. They should all go, but according to Riley, we should expect there would be 2 of them still in the rooster in October, which basically brings back the same team at the beginning of next season.
Clear cut is needed. All three must go this summer. If not via trade, then let contracts expired for nothing. Its time to move on.
Team with Bam, Kas, Ware, Jovic, Larsson, Gardner, JJJ, two draftees, and Mitchell and Smith shouldnt be much worse, but way more fun to watch.
That team would be a worse defensive team without Wiggins, #13 defense this year would probably be below average defense without him, maybe average #15 at best.
Would also really struggle to score the ball if Wiggins, Herro, Powell were all traded without getting talent back. #13 offense this year would be a below average offense, probably pushing bottom 10 worst offenses in the league if losing all three.
Bam would be the highest volume 3PT shooter (5.5 3PA, 31.8%) on the entire team. Kasparas, Ware, Davion shoot around 40% or better but on low volume (3 attempts) and low volume 3PT shooters % can fluctuate year to year.
What good was having the 13th best defense? We had the 17th best record. No reason to tie up cap space to maintain a below average team.
See MIAtrix comment below on how opening up cap space for FA is not the goal, trades are.
My reply was about how the team would change without Wiggins, Herro, Powell, and would be significantly worse. Not bad enough to be a tanking team because you have Bam, but bad enough to be a bottom 10 offense and average at best defense, probably in the 30s in wins.
How would it be possible to make up for the 18 3PA per game lost from Wiggins, Herro, Powell, without getting comparable shooters in return (and there aren’t that many)? On a team w/o those three you’d be relying on Kasparas, Ware, Mitchell, and Bam to all double their attempts, plus Larsson and Jaquez to up their volume.
I think it’s realistic for Bam’s 3PT% to climb up a bit, only the 2nd year he really started taking threes, but he already took a ton of attempts this year. I think it’s definitely realistic for Larsson to improve to an average 3PT shooter next year. Jaquez improving is an x-factor/swing skill that would make him a lot of money. But would not rely on any of those outcomes as the first plan on offense.
“the team would change without Wiggins, Herro, Powell, and would be significantly worse. Not bad enough to be a tanking team because you have Bam”
Dude, Miami is already a lottery team. Exactly what is your definition of a tanking team? Is it a lottery team which has a better draft choice than #13? Somehow, that seems like a better option than the slow death process Heat fans have been going through the past few years. There are some very good players at the top of the draft.
A tanking team is a team that goes into the year planning on winning as few games as possible, too many examples to list this year. Those teams finish in the low/mid 20s or lower in wins because they want to maximize their lottery odds. If you look at the standings you usually see few teams per year finish in the 30-40 win range. There were three this year, and they all had things go wrong with injury or front office during the year – GSW, MIL, CHI.
No NBA team would ever make offseason moves with the goal in mind of being a end of the lottery team that both misses out on the playoffs and also has a low chance at a top 4 pick. Trading Wiggins, Herro, Powell while keeping Bam, the most impactful player on the team to winning would be an example of such a move.
So what?
NBA teams try to avoid being in the 30s in wins. Either fall in the 10s/20s to tank, or in the 40s and above to compete. There’s no franchise changing talent at the top of 2027 draft to tank for, and the Heat don’t control their pick in 2028. So tanking makes no sense for the next several years, and getting worse on purpose, but without fully tanking, never makes sense.
Heat were in high 30s last year, and in low 40s this year. Its clear, that current teams ceiling is mid 40s.
Without Wig, Herro and Powell this is a low 30s team.
If nothing else, I know exactly what to expect from those three, and its not enough, despite all three are good players. I prefer then to watch a bunch of young players to grow. Its a certain satisfaction in that.
My point is that no NBA team going into the season plans on being in the 30s, not good enough to make the playoffs and also not bad enough to have a good % at a top 4 pick.
Teams end up in the 30s due to midseason trades like the Heat in 2025. Only teams in the 30s this year were GSW, Chicago, and Milwaukee. GSW and MIL were trying to contend and decided to tank after in season injuries. Chicago FO was trying to save their jobs at trade deadline by trading everyone and got fired anyway. But no front office went into the season thinking the plan is to win 30 games.
Also think that the idea that a team needs to lose to develop young players is an idea promoted to sell the idea of tanking but isn’t true. Lot of development happened this year in Miami. Lot happened on OKC, SAS etc, the best teams in the league. I think there’s a lot of evidence that tanking actually can harm player development or stall it, and the best way to develop a team is to try to win games.
And my point is, that we have to have fun watching the team. There is no fun watching team without potential.
Heat without Herro, Powell and Wiggins would contend most of the nights, but due lack of experience more games would be lost, that’s the difference in wins, but also difference in joy.
Also, rules are changing. It seems that 30-40 w area wont be a desert in the future.
About development. If you have those three in the lineup, the ball goes to Bam or one of those three. If they are not available, the ball goes to Bam and somebody else. This way the learning curve is steeper.
The Heat will get to keep their 2027 draft pick if it is in the 1-14 lottery range. If it is #15 or higher, it will go to Charlotte. Miami will then need to wait until 2028 to get its first round pick back. If it were me, I would rather have a bird in the hand (2027 lottery pick) than who knows what in the bush in 2028. But that’s just me.
I see next season as an opportunity for Miami to give its young core, including draft picks and young players acquired in trades, more court time to develop and coalesce. The team could then make moves in 2027 to upgrade the roster by going after free agents or trading for players on expiring contracts who are looking for a change.
If they keep 2027 by missing the playoffs, they send an unprotected 2028 to CHA that could be #1 overall if they miss the playoffs again. 2027 is also projected as the weakest draft in many years with no clear #1 at top.
I understand you believe 2027 draft is worth tanking for and that they could have a quick turnaround to be a playoff team in 2028 to avoid the concern of sending possibly #1 overall to Charlotte. I don’t see a one year planned tank in a bad draft as possible or realistic for a team to do. They would also have to trade Bam to tank for 2027 and they said the plan is to build around Bam.
I agree. Would the team be better if it retained those players? Sure, but to what end? Changes are needed. The opportunity to do so is here.
Your desire to stay relevant is counterproductive. That’s is what the Arisons & Riley have been doing for the past 4 years. While Miami is running in place, teams like Phoenix, Toronto, Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando and Portland have been passing them by. Kind of like putting window dressing on a delapidated house in the path of a tornado or rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. It may make you feel better for a moment, but it does nothing to change the inevitable outcome. This team doesn’t require cosmetic tweaking around the edges; it requires a transformative overhaul.
No such thing as an inevitable outcome in the NBA. Things are always changing, will probably change as a result of the lottery and will definitely change based on playoff results. Nothing is fixed or set in stone. Also don’t agree that those teams are all in a better spot than Miami just because they made the first round of the playoffs. Esp. the capped out teams next year like ORL, and teams down draft picks like ORL and PHO. I liked Toronto this year but fans wanted them to fall out of the top 6 and wanted Scottie Barnes traded for picks before their series started, same as fans here with Bam.
Herro is part of the problem not part of the solution. At this point, so are the Arisons and Riley. Time for a change. This team needs an enema.
Based on Riley’s press conference there won’t be any change of course. There will be some changes, obviously but we cannot expect them to let all the veterans go. Riley will try to make some trades, but I don’t expect any whale hunt to be successful, so the most realistic outcome is some minor trades and perhaps some free agent additions. I think you should stop dreaming about an enema 😄 At least in regards to the Heat team.. Not happening. Unless Giannis comes to Miami (not likely) I don’t expect any major changes.
I had the same impression. Likely outcome is failed Giannis trade and mostly the same roster in October.
Wash, rinse, repeat. Wash, rinse, repeat. Wash, rinse, repeat. Wash, rinse, repeat. Wash, rinse, repeat. Year after year.
So, in other words, fans should continue to accept the party line that Miami is trying to be competitive, when in reality, all it is doing is trying to keep the Kaysea Arena’s seats full. I’m tired of Riley blowing smoke up my @$$. Aren’t you tired of him blowing it up yours.
Clearing the books does nothing for the Heat this year. There aren’t any major free agents to go after even if they COULD create the space. Letting people go for nothing doesn’t gain the Heat anything. I stated on another post that Wiggins, Herro, and Powell are all assets that can be used in trades and/or sign-and-trades.
“Wasting” cap space isn’t really a thing that we should worry about. We aren’t trying to be a player in cap space THIS year. We have young players coming up for their extensions within the next few years (Jacquez, Larsson, Ware, etc.). As long as people are signed to contracts which are moveable via trade (no injured max or supermax players or *ahem* players under gambling investigation making $26M), our long range plans shouldn’t be affected.
Exactly. Clearing the books does nothing for this year. However, it does prepare Miami for the future.
Miami should trade players for the most they can get and bring in young players with talent to develop by planning for 2027 and beyond. Take one step back now in order to take two steps (or more) forward later.
Yes, certain players.
These players aren’t taking 1 year deals. Thats why you don’t re sign them, locking them into longer deals will continue this franchise down a rotten path, even if you are going to have a miserable season in the short future.