Heat wants P.J. Tucker back. But how far is the Heat willing to go to re-sign Tucker?
The Miami Heat wants veteran forward P.J. Tucker back, but it appears that the front office has drawn a line as to how far it’s willing to go to make it happen.
Tucker, who turned 37 in June, will allow Wednesday’s deadline to pass without opting in to his $7.4 million player option with the Heat for next season. By not opting in, Tucker will become an unrestricted free agent this week, with negotiations across the league allowed to begin on Thursday at 6 p.m.
According to multiple sources close to the situation, the Heat is willing to offer Tucker a fully guaranteed contract for the maximum-allowable three years using the non-Bird exception. The deal would include a starting salary of $8.4 million and be worth about $26.5 million over three seasons.
But the belief is the Heat is not currently willing to use the $10.3 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception to re-sign Tucker, which would allow Miami to offer him a three-year contract worth about $32.5 million.
Heat president Pat Riley and coach Erik Spoelstra both praised Tucker after the team’s season came to an end in the Eastern Conference finals.
“Tuck is the kind of player that doesn’t have to do a lot from a scoring standpoint, but he makes so many great plays for you,” Riley said during his season-ending press conference in early June. “He is like a cornerstone for us. Toughness, rebounding, defense, no nonsense guy. I’d love to have Tuck back next year. He’s part of our core and we’ll see what happens.”
In late May on exit interview day, Spoelstra said of Tucker: “He was so important all across the board. That competitive spirit, his competitive will, his consistent toughness that you can just count on every single day. And he has a way of communicating that and inspiring everybody in the locker room that is so genuine. If you’re just observing it from the outside, you’re like: ‘Wow, that’s intense.’ But to everybody in the locker room, it’s a really special genuine feeling when you have somebody that is that committed to winning and helping other guys. He’s so unselfish as a player, always taking on the biggest challenges. Defensively, he’ll do all the little things, the dirty work, the tough things and never complain about it. He never complains or talks about his shots. He’s just completely selfless.”
Along with the front office and coaching staff, Heat players also want Tucker back next season. Heat star Jimmy Butler has made it known publicly and behind scenes to the organization how much he respects and values Tucker.
According to a league source, Tucker also wants to make a Heat return happen if the money is equal but believes there will be teams willing to offer him a contract in the $30 million range over three years using the non-taxpayer midlevel exception. Tucker, like most players, is looking for the most guaranteed money possible at this late stage of his career.
Keith Pompey from The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Tuesday that the Philadelphia 76ers intend to use the $10.3 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception to offer Tucker a three-year contract worth around $30 million. Pompey added that “league executives believe there’s a good chance Tucker will become a Sixer.”
NBA insider Marc Stein took it a step further and reported over the weekend that “sources insisted again Sunday night that it would be very surprising at this point if the anticipated [James] Harden/Tucker/[Daryl] Morey reunion in Philly collapses.”
There are a few reasons why the Heat would be hesitant to offer Tucker a fully guaranteed three-year contract using the $10.3 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception.
First, the deal would end when Tucker is either approaching 40 years old or just past his 40th birthday depending on how far the Heat advance into the playoffs that year.
Second, such a contract would significantly limit what else the Heat can do in free agency this year. Because using the $10.3 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception on Tucker would not only hard cap the Heat at the apron that’s expected to be set around $155 million, but it would also eliminate the biggest offer it could make to re-sign impending restricted free agent Caleb Martin or add an outside free agent.
If the non-taxpayer midlevel exception is used on Tucker, the most lucrative offer the Heat could make to Martin or any outside free agent would be using the $4.1 million biannual exception.
But the biggest factor could be the fact that the hard cap triggered by using the non-taxpayer midlevel exception would limit the Heat’s flexibility in the trade market for the coming months.
The Heat could argue that the lack of state income tax in Florida would make up for some of the difference between its offer using the non-Bird exception and any potential offer he receives from another team using the full non-taxpayer midlevel exception. But the bottom line is Tucker will still get more money, even after taxes, by signing a deal for the full non-taxpayer midlevel exception.
Tucker averaged 7.6 points on 41.5 percent shooting from three-point range, 5.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists in his first year with the Heat.
Tucker started in 70 of his 71 regular-season appearances as the Heat’s power forward this past season. He also averaged his most points per game since 2015-16, shot his highest percentage from the field since his rookie season when he played in just 17 games in 2006-07, shot a career-best percentage from three-point range this season all while averaging his most assists and posting his highest usage rate (an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while on the court) since 2015-16.
There’s no guarantee that Tucker would be used in such a big role with another team.
If Tucker does choose to sign elsewhere, the Heat’s free-agent options to replace him in the starting lineup are limited. Among the top forwards in this year’s free-agent class are Otto Porter Jr., Kyle Anderson, T.J. Warren, Thaddeus Young, Chris Boucher and Bobby Portis (if he declines his $4.6 million player option).
The Heat has faced this predicament before when it ended up losing forward Jae Crowder in free agency two years ago. There was mutual interest between the Heat and Crowder, but Miami did not want to offer more than one season of guaranteed money and Crowder was looking for long-term security.
The Heat’s offer to Crowder included a salary in the $14 million range for one season. Crowder chose to sign a three-year contract worth $29 million with the Phoenix Suns, and Miami struggled to replace him until Tucker joined the team last year.
A return to the Heat shouldn’t be ruled out yet, but there’s a real possibility that history could repeat itself with Tucker this summer.
HEAT CONNECTION IN UTAH GROWS
Former Heat assistant coach David Fizdale agreed to become an associate general manager for the Jazz, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Fizdale, who spent eight seasons (2008-16) next to Spoelstra on the Heat’s bench and the final two years of his Miami tenure as the assistant head coach to Spoelstra, joins retired Heat legend Dwyane Wade in Utah. Wade purchased an ownership stake in the Jazz last year.
But current Heat assistant coach Chris Quinn won’t be heading to the Jazz after recently interviewing for the franchise’s head coaching job. The Jazz are reportedly expected to hire Boston Celtics assistant coach Will Hardy as its next head coach.
This story was originally published June 28, 2022 at 10:12 AM.
