Heat’s roster full after acquiring Simone Fontecchio from Pistons in Duncan Robinson sign-and-trade
The Miami Heat’s roster for next season is now full, but the roster isn’t necessarily set yet.
The Heat made its first move of free agency since league-wide negotiations began Monday at 6 p.m., helping to facilitate three-point shooting forward Duncan Robinson’s move to the Detroit Pistons through a sign-and-trade agreement, multiple league sources confirmed to the Miami Herald on Tuesday.
With Robinson agreeing to a three-year contract worth $48 million to join the Pistons, Detroit is sending forward Simone Fontecchio to the Heat to complete the transaction. Fontecchio is the only piece going to the Heat as part of the sign-and-trade.
While the Heat is losing its most prolific three-point shooter in franchise history in Robinson, the move preserved a bit of salary-cap flexibility for the Heat moving forward. Fontecchio is on an expiring contract with an $8.3 million salary for this upcoming season, which is cheaper than the $9.9 million Robinson was guaranteed with the Heat for this season if he hadn’t exercised the early-termination option in his contract to become an unrestricted free agent.
In fact, the Heat would have then needed to release Robinson before his full $19.9 million salary became guaranteed for next season and then also would have incurred at least about a $3 million cap hit to sign his replacement at the minimum. So that’s a $12.9 million cap hit between Robinson’s partially guaranteed salary for next season and the salary for his replacement after waiving Robinson, as opposed to simply taking in Fontecchio’s $8.3 million expiring salary as part of Tuesday’s sign-and-trade agreement.
Following the addition of Fontecchio, the Heat’s roster is now at the NBA regular-season maximum of 15 players on standard contracts: Bam Adebayo ($37.1 million), Tyler Herro ($31 million), Andrew Wiggins ($28.2 million), Terry Rozier ($24.9 million of $26.6 million salary currently guaranteed), Davion Mitchell (estimated $11.5 million), Kyle Anderson ($9.2 million), Fontecchio ($8.3 million), Haywood Highsmith ($5.6 million), Nikola Jovic ($4.4 million), Kel’el Ware ($4.4 million), Kevin Love ($4.2 million), Jaime Jaquez Jr. ($3.9 million), Kasparas Jakucionis ($3.7 million), Pelle Larsson ($978,000 of $2 million salary currently guaranteed) and Keshad Johnson ($2 million).
But there remains the possibility of trades that can bring changes to Miami’s roster. Rozier and Wiggins are two players who the Heat has explored trading this offseason, according to league sources.
When including the full salaries for Rozier and Larsson but not including cap holds, the Heat has about $182.1 million in salaries committed to 15 players for next season.
With the salary cap for the 2025-26 season set at $154.6 million and the luxury tax set at $187.9 million, the Heat is about $5.8 million below the luxury-tax threshold for this upcoming season. After finishing as a luxury tax team in each of the last two seasons, the expectation is the Heat will try to find a way to get below the luxury tax threshold this upcoming season in order to avoid the onerous repeater tax that’s triggered when a team crosses the luxury tax threshold in four straight seasons or four times during a five-season period.
When including the $2.5 million in “unlikely to be earned incentives” (are added to calculate where teams are against the aprons) that raise Herro’s cap number for this upcoming season to $33.5 million, the Heat has about $184.6 million in salaries committed to 15 players for next season. This has Miami about $11.3 million below the punitive first apron of $195.9 million and far from the dreaded second apron of $207.8 million.
The acquisition of Fontecchio hard caps the Heat at the second apron because it’s adding a player already under contract through a sign-and-trade.
The list of players from the Heat’s season-ending roster who remain free agents this summer includes guard Alec Burks (unrestricted free agent), guard Josh Christopher (unrestricted free agent), guard Dru Smith (restricted free agent) and guard Isaiah Stevens (unrestricted free agent). Mitchell was on this list as a restricted free agent before he reached an agreement to return to the Heat prior to Monday’s start of league-wide negotiations.
The Heat still has access to a portion of the $14.1 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception and/or the $5.1 million bi-annual exception to offer outside free agents, but using either of these exceptions would hard cap the Heat at the first apron. In addition, the Heat has just $5.8 million in room under the luxury tax that it would prefer not to cross this season.
With the Heat’s roster already at the league-wide regular-season limit of 15 players, adding another player on a guaranteed standard salary in free agency would force Miami to waive a player on a guaranteed deal ahead of the regular season to get back to 15 players.
Robinson’s departure marks the end of his productive Heat tenure, as he developed into one of the organization’s undrafted success stories.
After going undrafted out of Michigan in 2018, Robinson became the franchise leader for the most career three-pointers made by a Heat player.
Robinson made 1,202 three-pointers while shooting an impressive 39.7 percent from behind the arc during his seven regular seasons with the Heat. He’s one of only nine NBA players who has made more than 1,000 threes while shooting better than 39 percent from three-point range since the 2018-19 season, along with Stephen Curry, Buddy Hield, Malik Beasley, CJ McCollum, Paul George, Zach LaVine, Klay Thompson and Gary Trent Jr.
But Robinson’s role has diminished over the years. After starting in 209 of his 239 regular-season appearances over his first four NBA seasons with the Heat, he has started in 74 of his 184 regular-season appearances over the last three seasons.
Robinson, 31, averaged 11 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game while shooting 43.7 percent from the field and 39.3 percent on 6.5 three-point attempts per game last regular season.
The Pistons were in need of outside shooting in the wake of the news that federal authorities are investigating Pistons free agent guard Malik Beasley on allegations of gambling related to NBA games and prop bets.
The addition of Fontecchio helps fill the Heat’s three-point shooting void that Robinson leaves behind, as Fontecchio shot 40.1 percent on 5.1 three-point attempts per game during the 2023-24 regular season before his efficiency dipped to 33.5 percent on three three-point attempts per game last regular season.
Fontecchio, who is from Italy, is listed at 6-foot-7 and 209 pounds and is 29 years old. He’s entering his fourth NBA season after averaging 5.9 points, 2.9 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.4 steals and 0.2 blocks per game in 75 appearances last regular season with the Pistons.
While 15 players is the regular-season limit, NBA teams are allowed to carry up to 21 players during the offseason and preseason. The sign-and-trade transaction between the Heat and Pistons can’t be formally completed and announced until the NBA’s moratorium is lifted on Sunday at noon.
HEAT SIGNS FIRST-ROUND PICK
The Heat announced Tuesday the signing of Jakucionis, who Miami selected with the 20th overall pick in this year’s draft. Tuesday was the first day that NBA teams could sign this year’s first-round picks to their rookie deals.
Jakucionis signed the four-year, $17.7 million contract he was slotted for as the 20th pick in the draft. He’s on a $3.7 million salary this upcoming season.
Jakucionis is now not eligible to be traded for 30 days after signing his rookie contract.
The Heat’s summer squad, which includes Jakucionis, opens practice on Wednesday in San Francisco. The Heat begins summer league action on Saturday against the San Antonio Spurs at the California Classic.
This story was originally published July 1, 2025 at 6:50 PM.
