Heat bringing back Precious Achiuwa in hopes of bolstering frontcourt depth. The details
The Miami Heat is bringing back a familiar face in hopes of bolstering its frontcourt depth.
Forward/center Precious Achiuwa has agreed to a one-year contract to join the Heat, a league source confirmed to the Miami Herald on Wednesday. It’s a nonguaranteed deal, with the contract that comes with a $2.3 million cap hit not becoming fully guaranteed until Jan. 10.
Achiuwa (6-foot-8 and 243 pounds) was selected by the Heat with the 20th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, spending his first NBA season in Miami before being traded to the Toronto Raptors as part of the deal that brought Kyle Lowry to Miami.
Achiuwa, 26, spent last season with the New York Knicks and became a free agent this offseason. He averaged 6.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, one assist, 0.8 steals and 0.7 blocks per game while shooting 50.2% from the field and 10 of 36 (27.8%) from three-point range in 57 games (10 starts) with the Knicks last season.
In Achiuwa’s lone season with the Heat, he averaged five points, 3.4 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.3 steals and 0.5 blocks per game while shooting 54.4% from the field and 0 of 1 from three-point range in 61 games (four starts) as a rookie during the 2020-21 season.
The addition of Achiuwa adds some much-needed size to the Heat’s roster, joining Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware as the only centers on Miami’s standard roster for this upcoming season. Miami also has undrafted rookie center Vlad Goldin signed to a two-way contract.
The signing of Achiuwa will put the Heat at the leaguewide regular-season limit of 15 players on standard contracts: Achiuwa, Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins, Terry Rozier, Norman Powell, Davion Mitchell, Simone Fontecchio, Nikola Jovic, Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, Pelle Larsson, Dru Smith and Keshad Johnson.
But with the Heat already at the preseason maximum of 21 players signed to contracts (including two-way contracts and Exhibit 10 deals) prior to adding Achiuwa, Miami will need to waive one of its developmental players to make room for him.
The Heat’s two-way contract players are forward Myron Gardner and Goldin, with the third two-way slot still open. Two-way contracts, which pay half the NBA rookie minimum and do not count toward the salary cap or luxury tax, 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.
The five players who the Heat currently has signed to Exhibit 10 contracts are forward Dain Dainja, guard Trevor Keels, guard Gabe Madsen, guard Ethan Thompson and guard Jahmir Young. Exhibit 10 deals essentially represent an invite to training camp and provide a financial incentive for that player to join the organization’s G League affiliate.
While the Heat has until the end of the regular season to avoid the luxury tax, it will need to shed some salary to get under the tax threshold if it keeps Achiuwa on its roster past Jan. 10 to guarantee his full salary.
With the Heat just about $1.6 million under the luxury tax threshold before adding Achiuwa, guaranteeing his full salary would take the Heat about $700,000 above the luxury tax line if the current roster remains intact.
One way the Heat could dip under the luxury tax is by waiving Rozier to create an additional $1.7 million of room below the tax line because only $24.9 million of his $26.6 million salary for this upcoming season is currently guaranteed. Rozier’s full salary becomes guaranteed on Jan. 10.
The Heat could also make a trade to shed salary to stay out of luxury tax territory or simply not keep Achiuwa around long enough to push above the luxury tax threshold.
This is important because the Heat does not intend to cross the luxury-tax threshold this season unless it’s to add an All-Star talent. After finishing as a luxury tax team in each of the past two seasons, the Heat wants to stay out of the luxury tax this 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.
The Heat is set to hold its annual Media Day on Monday before opening training camp on Tuesday at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton to kick off the 2025-26 season.
The Heat must trim its roster to a maximum of 18 players (15 on standard contracts and three on two-way contracts) before the start of the regular season. The Heat begins the regular season on Oct. 22 against the Magic in Orlando.
