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 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
- Myron Gardner — $2.6M
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 amount 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 this accounts 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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- Miami Heat 2026-27 Salary Cap Preview
- 2025-26 Miami Heat Player Review: Simone Fontecchio
- Erik Spoelstra reportedly viewed as the ‘likely successor’ to Pat Riley
- Recap of Pat Riley’s 2025-26 end of season press conference
- Tyler Herro to undergo ‘minor procedure’ on foot
- 2025-26 Miami Heat Player Review: Bam Adebayo
- These 3 Heat players should not be on the team next season
“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.
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.