The Miami Heat’s roster is beginning to take shape and it resembles the team from the previous season quite a bit. With Jimmy Butler’s contract expiring with the Heat the following season and Bam Adebayo’s new contract extension, the Heat will receive financial relief. Under coach Eric Spoelstra, Tyler Herro, Terry Rozier, Duncan Robinson, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kevin Love, and Nikola Jokic will all be returning.
Thomas Bryant will also return. Bryant decided to re-sign with Miami on a one-year senior minimum contract, worth roughly $2.8 million, on Wednesday after opting out of his $2.8 million contract to become a free agency. The Heat avoided paying the second apron tax line, which they are approaching but don’t want to cross, by opting out and resigning. Despite his $2.8 million salary, he will only count as $2.1 million against the cap. Orlando Robinson is unlikely to return to the Heat with the re-signing of Bryant and Love and the Heat’s first-round selection of Indiana big Kel’el Ware (the Heat have until July 15 to guarantee Robinson’s pay for the upcoming season).
One new face will be veteran guard Alec Burks, who averaged 10.4 points per game while playing for the Pistons and Knicks the previous season. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN broke the news that Burks, who is worth $3.3 million because he has been in the league for more than ten years, is heading to Miami on a veteran minimum deal.
(Like Bryant, Burks’ salary is only deducted from the cap at $2.1 million per NBA regulation.)
Burks provides some offensive punch. Throughout his career, he has made 38.3% of his 3-pointers, and he scored at least thirty points in a few games last season.
Miami is essentially going to run it back with a team that is going to make the postseason and will be scary in a playoff series if healthy, but which does not seem to be a real threat to Boston, New York, and Philadelphia at the top of the East. There are still unanswered questions regarding the roster for the Heat for the upcoming season, such as whether free agent Caleb Martin will return.
