Heat re-signs guard Dru Smith. What it means and team’s plan from here
Guard Dru Smith, who impressed the Heat early last season before sustaining a season-ending torn Achilles, agreed to a three-year, $7.9 million deal with Miami on Saturday, a league source confirmed.
According to the source, Smith’s modest first year salary is fully guaranteed. The second and third years have conditional guarantees.
There’s optimism that Smith, who sustained the non-contact injury in late December, will be able to play either by the start of the regular season on Oct. 22 in Orlando or very soon after.
Smith, who was a restricted free agent, logged double-digit minutes in eight straight games before sustaining the injury, establishing himself as a reliable three-point shooter and a skilled point-of-attack perimeter defender.
Smith played the entire fourth quarter in five of the seven games leading up to his injury.
In 14 games and one start last season, he averaged 6.2 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.5 steals per appearance while shooting 50.8 percent from the field and 53.3 percent from three-point range (16 for 30). In two years with the Heat, he has shot 45.3 percent on threes (24 of 53).
Smith, 27, has been a part of the Heat’s developmental program since he went undrafted out of Missouri in 2021. He has spent at least part of his first three NBA seasons with the Heat.
“The way that this organization has taken care of me and things like that, I can never thank them enough,” Smith said in February of the Heat’s commitment to him over the last four years. “I’m just really appreciative to be here and be a part of this organization. Hopefully things will progress in the right way and we’ll see how things shake out.”
Because of an arcane league rule, Smith was not permitted to take the Heat’s one available two-way contract.
His signing comes a day after Miami traded wing Haywood Highsmith and a 2032 second round pick to Brooklyn for a 2026 second-round pick that will convey to Miami only if the Nets have one of the league’s five best records next season.
That move apparently was made to pull the Heat below the luxury tax line, which Miami does not want to surpass this season.
By shipping out Highsmith, who was due $5.6 million, and replacing him with Smith, who is expected to make no more than half of that, Miami will stand just below the luxury tax threshold.
The Heat can add a 15th player in the second half of next season and remain below the tax threshold. There are no current plans to add a 15th player at this time.
The Heat opted to sign Smith instead of a backup center such as Kai Jones, who auditioned for Miami last week, or veteran center Trey Lyes, who also has been linked to the Heat.
Miami isn’t expected to add a backup center on a standard contract anytime soon, though it’s conceivable that could be addressed with another trade or by signing a veteran center to a two-way contract. (Jones is not eligible for a two-way deal.)
Miami has one center on a two-way contract: former FAU and Michigan center Vlad Goldin, who is eligible to play in as many as 50 NBA games this season.
At the moment, forward Nikola Jovic would be the backup center if the Heat starts Kel’el Ware alongside Bam Adebayo.
Smith, Davion Mitchell, Terry Rozier and rookie Kasparas Jakucionis give the Heat four natural point guards. All could end up coming off the bench if Erik Spoelstra opts to start Tyler Herro and Norman Powell in the backcourt.
Spoelstra said last month that a Herro/Powell backcourt would “work very well,” even though that lineup lacks a natural point guard and would leave Herro, Bam Adebayo and Andrew Wiggins sharing ball-handling duties to begin both halves.
If Smith plays ahead of Jakucionis, that could mean something of a redshirt season for the rookie from Lithuania, via the University of Illinois.
Miami now has 17 players under contract -- 14 under standard deals, two players on two-way deals (Goldin and forward Myron Gardner) and one (guard Ethan Thompson) on an Exhibit 10 deal, which includes a training camp invitation. Guard Gabe Madsen, who played on the Warriors’ summer league team, has discussed joining the Heat on an Exhibit 10 contract, but nothing is in writing.
This story was originally published August 16, 2025 at 6:51 PM.
