Heat shakes up roster ahead of summer finale, signing Garrett and Days to two-way deals
Just hours ahead of its summer league finale, the Miami Heat made a few moves to shake up its summer league and NBA roster.
The Heat waived guards Mychal Mulder and Javonte Smart from their two-way contracts and immediately filled those voids by signing guard Marcus Garrett and forward Darius Days to two-way deals.
Garrett is a familiar face, as he opened last season as one of the Heat’s two-way contract players after impressing in summer league. But he was waived by the Heat in January and then underwent season-ending surgery to fix the instability in his right wrist.
Garrett, 23, remained around the Heat for rehabilitation and joined the team’s summer league squad for the second straight year after he was cleared to play basketball again in late June.
Garrett made an immediate statement, opening Las Vegas Summer League with a performance that included 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field, 1-of-1 shooting on threes and 2-of-3 shooting from the foul line, three rebounds, three assists and one steal in 26 minutes in a July 9 win over the Boston Celtics.
It has been a bit of a struggle for Garrett ever since, as he totaled just nine points on 1-of-13 shooting from the field in his next two games in Las Vegas before being held out of Friday night’s summer league loss to the Toronto Raptors.
Garrett did enough, though, to prove to the Heat that he deserves another two-way contract opportunity.
Known for his elite defensive ability with a 6-10 wingspan, Garrett (6-5, 205) is a relentless on-ball defender and has already had a few impressive defensive moments in summer league. But the question surrounding Garrett’s game has always been whether he can do enough offensively to be an NBA rotation player.
Garrett, who was named the Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year as a junior at Kansas before going undrafted last year, totaled 13 points on 5-of-21 (23.8 percent) shooting from the field and 1-of-4 (25 percent) shooting on threes, 23 rebounds, seven assists, five steals and three blocks in 12 games with the Heat last season.
“I just like how things are run,” Garrett said last week of why he chose to return to the Heat for summer league after he was waived by the organization in January. “I love the organization. I love how it feels like family. That’s kind of something I’ve been accustomed to throughout my whole career. It’s not something that I just wanted to leave and not be a part of.”
But Days is a new face for the Heat.
Days (6-7, 245), who went undrafted out of LSU this year, has been playing for the San Antonio Spurs’ summer league team. He has averaged 13.7 points while shooting 55.6 percent from the field and 6 of 16 (37.5 percent) from three-point range and 10 rebounds in three summer league games in Las Vegas.
As a senior at LSU last season, Days averaged 13.7 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game and was named to the All-SEC Second Team. He shot 43.4 percent from the field and 69 of 197 (35 percent) from three-point range.
Days is only the third LSU player since 1977-78 to finish his college career with 1,300 points, 800 rebounds and 125 steals, along with Tasmin Mitchell and Leonard Mitchell. Days also hit 186 threes and shot 35.3 percent from beyond the arc in his four college seasons.
When asked by a reporter during the pre-draft process which NBA player he models his game after, Days’ answer was former Heat forward P.J. Tucker.
“I feel like we kind of have that same build,” Days said of Tucker, who the Heat lost in free agency this summer. “We shoot the corner three ball, guard multiple guys and just very versatile on the floor.”
Days is a Florida native, attending Williston High School in Williston as a freshman, The Rock School in Gainesville as a sophomore and junior and then moved to IMG Academy in Bradenton for his senior year. He turns 23 in October.
With Mulder and Smart released from their two-way contracts with the Heat, they are both now available to be signed by any NBA team. Both struggled to stand out in summer league, as Mulder shot 33.3 percent from the field and 30.2 percent from three-point range in six summer games and Smart shot 30 percent from the field and 19.5 percent from three-point range in six summer games.
Two-way contracts do not count toward the salary cap or luxury tax and allow for players to be on their NBA team’s active list for as many as 50 regular-season games, with other game action having to come in the G League. Those on two-way deals are not eligible to take part in the NBA playoffs.
NBA teams are allowed to carry up to 20 players under contract in the offseason and preseason, a total that includes standard deals, two-way deals and Exhibit 10 deals but does not include those on summer league contracts. Rosters must be cut to a maximum total of 17 players (15 on standard contracts and two on two-way contracts) by the start of the regular season.
The Heat’s roster for this upcoming season currently includes 18 players — 13 on standard contracts, Garrett and Days on two-way deals, and fellow summer league prospects Jamaree Bouyea, Jamal Cain and Orlando Robinson on Exhibit 10 contracts, which typically represents an invite to training camp and an opportunity to compete for one of the team’s two-way deals. Even though Garrett and Days now hold the Heat’s two-way contracts, they can be waived at any time to open a spot for another player.
The Heat’s roster would increase to 19 players, just one shy of the preseason limit, if veteran forward Udonis Haslem decides to return for a 20th NBA season, as expected.
The Heat has a history of using its two-way contract players a lot on the NBA level, with recent examples including Caleb Martin, Gabe Vincent and Max Strus. All three have since been promoted to standard contracts as part of Miami’s 15-man roster.
The Heat closes summer league on Saturday against the Los Angeles Clippers in Las Vegas (11 p.m., NBA TV). Miami is 1-3 in Las Vegas and holds a 2-5 overall summer league record, including its three games at the California Classic in San Francisco.
This story was originally published July 16, 2022 at 1:35 PM.
