Heat officially out of luxury tax after Clippers claim Rodney McGruder
The Heat is officially not a luxury-tax team.
The Clippers claimed wing player Rodney McGruder and his expiring contract worth $1.5 million off waivers before Tuesday’s 5 p.m. deadline. McGruder was released by the Heat on Sunday following its loss in Toronto.
With the Clippers claiming McGruder, the Heat avoids paying a luxury tax this season, which has become a priority with Miami facing long playoff odds entering Tuesday’s game against Philadelphia.
“This profession we’re in is an amazing and beautiful profession. The duality is sometimes the business of this can be a real pain,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Tuesday when asked to address the organization’s decision to release McGruder. “And that’s one of the tougher business moves that our franchise has had to make.”
McGruder is not eligible to compete in the playoff since he was waived after March 1, but the Clippers now have McGruder’s early Bird rights as he enters free agency this offseason. The Clippers have until June 29 to submit a qualifying offer to make McGruder a restricted free agent.
Besides not wanting to pay the tax this season, the Heat also wanted to avoid becoming a repeater tax team, which happens when a team is over the tax three times over a four-year period.
With the Heat already near the luxury-tax line for 2019-20, it would have been in danger of paying the tax in back-to-back seasons if it would have kept McGruder and ended this season as a luxury-tax team. That would have put pressure on the Heat to avoid the luxury tax for a third consecutive season in 2020-21, which is the year Miami hopes to pursue big-name players with cap space, because it would have made the Heat a repeater tax team.
Being a repeater tax team carries consequences that include a more punitive tax rate and that can limit player acquisitions, to an extent. A team’s tax bill is determined Wednesday, the final day of the regular season.
McGruder appeared in 66 games and started 45 for the Heat this season, averaging 7.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists, while averaging 23.5 minutes and shooting 40.3 percent from the field and 35.1 percent from three-point range. He appeared in 162 games for the Heat over three seasons, with 112 starts, and averaged 6.7 points.
McGruder helped lead the Heat’s G League affiliate to a championship in 2015-16, then earned a contract with the Heat after impressing Miami during summer league play in 2016.
“There’s certainly a human side to it,” Spoelstra said. “This is a four-year journey that Rodney and the Miami Heat took together, and we both grew from it. We both benefited from it. I’ll be honest, it was tough for a lot of us. I know I speak for a lot of people in our locker room and staff wise that had a tough time that night. I certainly did. It was one of the toughest things I’ve had to be a part of in this seat. I love Rodney. He embodies so many Heat qualities. Boy, does he have a lifelong fan in me and big time fans with everybody else here in the Miami Heat organization.”
The Heat’s current roster is now at 14 players — one below the league limit. The deadline for the Heat to fill out its 15-man roster is prior to Wednesday’s game in Brooklyn, and such maneuvering for one additional player would give the Heat rights to that player in the offseason and would not impact its ability to avoid the luxury tax this season.
This story was originally published April 9, 2019 at 5:20 PM.
