Heat waives Guy to sign Mulder to two-way deal. The thinking behind the late-season move
With less than three weeks left in the regular season, the Miami Heat made a roster move.
On Thursday night ahead of Friday’s matchup against the New York Knicks at FTX Arena, the Heat announced that it signed guard Mychal Mulder (6-3, 184) to a two-way contract. Guard Kyle Guy was waived by Miami to make room for Mulder.
Mulder’s new two-way deal with the Heat is for two seasons, which is the longest that a two-way contract can be structured for. This means he’ll be part of Miami’s offseason and summer league programs unless he’s surprisingly waived before then.
Mulder, 27, joins guard Javonte Smart as the Heat’s current two two-way contract players. Players on two-way deals are not eligible to participate in the playoffs, but they can still train and travel with the team during the postseason.
Mulder returns to the Heat after signing an Exhibit 10 contract with the organization in September 2019. He took part in training camp and appeared in two preseason games with the Heat that year before he was waived prior to the start of the 2019-20 regular season.
“We were excited to have him back in our program. ... We’re excited about having an opportunity to work with him this offseason and really continue to develop him,” coach Eirk Spoelstra said. “In a perfect world, we would’ve been able to do that for the last two seasons, but we also like that he was able to go develop in a couple other places.”
Mulder brings NBA experience, as he played in 15 games with the Orlando Magic earlier this season. He arrives to the Heat with 82 career NBA games (11 starts) under his belt between time with the Magic and Golden State Warriors, averaging 5.7 points on 41.4 percent shooting from the field and 114-of-312 (36.5 percent) shooting from three-point range, 1.3 rebounds and 0.5 assists during his time in the league.
But just prior to signing with Miami on Thursday, Mulder was playing with the Heat’s G League affiliate in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He has averaged 17.8 points while shooting 50.4 percent from the field and 44.3 percent on 8.8 three-point attempts per game, 4.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 35.1 minutes in 10 games with the Sioux Falls Skyforce this season.
Mulder has shot an impressive 39 percent on 7.2 three-point attempts per game in four G League seasons.
Mulder, who is from Canada, went undrafted out of the University of Kentucky in 2017. He was Heat center Bam Adebayo’s teammate and roommate at Kentucky in 2016-17.
There are just four games left in the Skyforce’s regular-season schedule and a playoff berth is unlikely. But the two-way contract allows for Heat coaches to work with Mulder and potentially use him in an NBA game in the final weeks of the regular season, while also preventing him from signing a two-way deal elsewhere.
As for Guy, he’s now an unrestricted free agent. Guy appeared in 19 games with the Heat this season, averaging 3.9 points on 40 percent shooting from the field and 14-of-40 (35 percent) shooting from beyond the arc.
Mulder joins Smart, Guy, Caleb Martin and Marcus Garrett as those who have been Heat two-way contract players at one point this season.
HEAT’S ‘REALITY’
The Heat’s roster is slowly returning to full health, with forward Markieff Morris and guard Victor Oladipo recently returning from extended absences. Their returns have forced tough rotation decisions that have shifted roles.
“You not knowing your minutes, not knowing what’s going to happen in the game,” Heat starting forward P.J. Tucker said earlier this week. “Somebody might get in foul trouble. You never know what’s going to happen in games. Might be matchups. Coach might want to go with certain matchups. Some guys might play a little more, matching minutes with another player. Whatever. There are so many variables. You can’t say like exactly what it is. It’s different. Every day is different, whether somebody is in or out.
“Look at Gabe [Vincent]. He’s going from starting and getting 20 [points] in a couple games in a row to Kyle [Lowry] coming back and literally not stepping in the game. Then the next game starting again. You don’t know. But you have to be ready. It’s a part of your job. It’s a part of being a professional basketball player.”
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said this is the Heat’s “reality,” as it has overcome injury issues throughout the season to enter Friday as the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
“Everybody knew that these kind of decisions would happen as you get closer,” Spoelstra said of sorting out the Heat’s crowded rotation. “But we’ll have to figure out some things. I’ll have to make some tough decisions. I don’t have to make these decisions right now. We still have nine games left before the playoffs. But we’ll work through some things and then eventually have some clarity on the rotation.”
INJURY REPORT
Guard Tyler Herro sat out Friday with a left knee sprain, but Tucker, Martin and fellow forwards Jimmy Butler and Duncan Robinson all warmed up with the intention to play after being listed as questionable.
Oladipo was previously ruled out because of right knee recovery, as was Vincent with a right big toe contusion.
Oladipo has played in five games this season since returning earlier this month after an 11-month recovery from surgery to repair the quadriceps tendon in his right knee. This is the second game he has missed because of recovery since he returned. He also missed a March 12 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on the second night of a back-to-back.
The Heat will play again Saturday at 8 p.m. against the Brooklyn Nets at FTX Arena in Miami and the expectation is Oladipo will play the back end of the back-to-back.
This story was originally published March 25, 2022 at 10:03 AM.
