Heat picks up Herro’s option for 2022-23 season. What it means for Miami moving forward
Tyler Herro’s rookie contract will officially run through the 2022-23 NBA season.
The Miami Heat picked up the combo guard’s $5.7 million team option Friday — an inevitability given Herro’s impressive first two seasons in the NBA.
Herro is the first player from the 2019 NBA draft class to have his option picked up. If the Heat had not picked up his option, Herro would have become a free agent after the upcoming 2021-22 NBA season. Teams have until the final day of October to make a decision on rookie options.
Herro is one of only five players under contract for the 2022-23 season, along with star forwards Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, and guards Kyle Lowry and Duncan Robinson.
The next step for Miami will be figuring out whether to extend Herro. The 21-year-old will be eligible for a rookie-scale extension next offseason and could potentially warrant a big deal if he bounces back from a somewhat disappointing sophomore campaign. After Herro averaged 13.5 points per game and shot 38.9 percent from three-point range as a rookie, he averaged 15.1 points last year, while his three-point percentage slipped to 36.0.
Under his current contract, Herro would become a restricted free agent in the summer of 2023.
The Heat’s cap is tied up into the 2023-24 NBA season, though, with Butler, Adebayo, Lowry and Robinson taking up about 75.6 percent of projected cap space, according to Spotrac.com. Miami would have Herro’s Bird rights, which would let the team go over the cap to keep him in the fold.
For now, Herro remains an important, cheap contributor for a team with serious playoff aspirations. Herro will likely be the Heat’s sixth man next season and could potentially earn a starting job on the wing. Herro also remains a tantalizing potential trade piece. If Miami gets the opportunity to add another star, Herro — because of his age, track record and contract — would likely have to be the centerpiece of any hypothetical deal.
