Heat adds veteran Markieff Morris in free agency. Where roster stands and what could be next
A day after receiving commitments from six players on the first day of free agency, Pat Riley, Andy Elisburg, Adam Simon and the Miami Heat’s front office added another experienced veteran to the roster on Tuesday.
Forward Markieff Morris agreed to join the Heat on a one-year minimum deal, league sources confirmed to the Miami Herald.
Morris, 31, joins veteran guard Kyle Lowry and veteran forward P.J. Tucker as outside free agents who have committed to the Heat since negotiations were allowed to begin Monday night.
Lowry, 35, will sign a fully guaranteed three-year deal worth about $90 million to join the Heat through a sign-and-trade transaction. The machinations of the sign-and-trade are still being worked out, with Goran Dragic and Precious Achiuwa believed to be the only two Heat players being sent out in the deal.
And Tucker, 36, agreed to a two-year deal worth $15 million with Miami.
The Heat has also retained four of its own free agents in sharpshooting forward Duncan Robinson, veteran center Dewayne Dedmon, wing Max Strus and guard Gabe Vincent.
Robinson’s new contract is worth $90 million over five years. Dedmon agreed to a one-year minimum deal to return to Miami. And Vincent and Strus will both sign two-year minimum contracts to join the Heat’s 15-man roster after spending last season as the team’s two-way contract players.
Tuesday’s commitment from Morris helps bolster the Heat’s frontcourt, which wasn’t a strength last season. Miami was outrebounded 236-169 and outscored in the paint 188-148 during its first-round sweep from the playoffs at the hands of the eventual NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks.
Morris, 31, spent last season with the Los Angeles Lakers and was also part of the Lakers team that defeated the Heat in the NBA Finals in 2020. He averaged 6.7 points while shooting 40.5 percent from the field and 31.1 percent on threes, 4.4 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 61 games (27 starts) last season.
During the Lakers’ championship run in the NBA Walt Disney World bubble to cap off the 2019-20 season, Morris averaged 5.9 points and shot 42 percent on 3.3 three-point attempts per game.
Morris, the twin brother of Los Angeles Clippers forward Marcus Morris Sr., is entering his 11th season.
At 6-9 and 245 pounds, Morris will bring physicality and toughness to the Heat’s frontcourt as an experienced three-and-D option. He’s a career 34.1 percent three-point shooter.
Since Jae Crowder left Miami to sign with the Phoenix Suns last offseason, the Heat has been looking to fill the void that Crowder left behind as a physical three-and-D small-ball power forward who complements center Bam Adebayo’s game. Miami has attempted to address that need in free agency this offseason with two veteran forwards who fit that mold in Morris and Tucker to join a power rotation that also includes Adebayo and Dedmon.
This flurry of activity leaves the Heat’s roster for next season at 11 players on standard NBA contracts (these are salary estimates): Jimmy Butler ($36 million), Lowry ($28.5 million), Adebayo ($28.1 million), Robinson ($15.5 million), Tucker ($7.3 million), Tyler Herro ($4 million), KZ Okpala ($1.8 million), Morris (minimum counts as $1.7 million toward salary cap), Dedmon (minimum counts as $1.7 million toward salary cap), Strus ($1.7 million) and Vincent ($1.7 million).
Those 11 contracts combine to total $128 million, and that number grows to $133.2 million when including Ryan Anderson’s $5.2 million waive-and-stretch cap hit.
The 2021-22 NBA salary cap is set at $112.4 million and the luxury-tax threshold is at about $136.6 million. But because the Heat is acquiring Lowry through a sign-and-trade transaction, Miami faces a $143 million hard cap.
This leaves the Heat, which is roughly $3.4 million away from the tax line, with about $9.8 million to fill out the roster before reaching hard-cap threshold unless other trades are completed to create additional room.
The Heat has three roster spots to fill to get to 14 players, which is one shy of the NBA regular-season maximum of 15 players but still acceptable under NBA roster rules. Miami has gone with 14 players in previous seasons when up against the luxury tax or hard cap.
While $9.8 million is not much to sign three or four players to complete the roster, it could still be enough to add a rotational piece.
The Heat obviously does not have space to sign an outside free agent. But by operating as an over-the-cap team and forgoing cap space, Miami has two exceptions available to use: the non-taxpayer midlevel exception for $9.5 million and the bi-annual exception for $3.7 million.
With about $7.3 million of the $9.5 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception going to Tucker, the Heat has roughly $2.2 million remaining of that exception to sign another player. And Miami still has the full $3.7 million bi-annual exception available to use.
In addition to those two exceptions, the Heat can also sign outside free agents using minimum contracts that count as $1.7 million toward the luxury tax and hard cap. Miami could lower that cap hit to just under $1 million if the free agent it signs is an undrafted player.
Despite adding Lowry and bringing back Vincent, the Heat could still use another guard to play off the bench. Among the guards still available in free agency who could sign for the money Miami has to spend are Danny Green, J.J. Redick, Lou Williams, Wesley Matthews and Elfrid Payton.
With at least three roster spots to fill and about $9.8 million to spend before reaching the hard cap, the Heat does have enough to offer an outside free agent the $3.7 million bi-annual exception and fill out the remaining three spots with minimum deals to get to the NBA regular-season maximum of 15 players. That scenario would leave Miami about $1 million under the hard cap.
While Robinson, Dedmon, Strus and Vincent are returning to the Heat, there are four players from Miami’s season-ending roster who remain free agents: Udonis Haslem, Andre Iguodala, Victor Oladipo, and Omer Yurtseven. Veteran forward Trevor Ariza agreed to a one-year deal with the Lakers on Monday and veteran forward Nemanja Bjelica agreed to a one-year deal with the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, according to reports.
In addition, guard Kendrick Nunn agreed to sign a two-year, $10 million deal on Tuesday to join the championship-contending Lakers, according to his agent. Earlier in the day, the Heat pulled Nunn’s $4.7 million qualifying offer to make him an unrestricted free agent and lost the right to match outside offers he received.
The Heat still holds Bird rights on Oladipo and Iguodala, which allows teams to exceed the salary cap to re-sign a player up to his maximum salary. This would give Miami the ability to re-sign these players just above the minimum as long as it manages to remain below the hard cap.
Of course, the Heat’s front office could also get creative and pull off double sign-and-trades or expand the Lowry sign-and-trade deal to find more money to offer outside free agents. Most of the money is already spent, but there are still some possibilities and decisions in front of the Heat.
Negotiations began Monday evening, but free agents can’t formally sign their new contracts until Friday at 12:01 p.m.
This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 7:02 PM.
