Live updates: Hardaway agrees to terms, LeBron, more on free agency
NBA free agency is here. And so is another Heat pursuit of LeBron James, who informed the Lakers that he’s leaving. The Heat, Golden State and Cleveland are widely considered atop the list of possibilities.
While NBA teams were allowed to begin negotiating with their own impending free agents on June 14 after the NBA Finals ended, free agents can begin negotiating with every team in the league today at 6 p.m. It’s worth noting that most free agent signings aren’t eligible to become official until the league’s moratorium is lifted at noon on July 6.
With forward Andrew Wiggins opting into the $30.2 million player option in his contract with the Heat for next season and also agreeing to a two-year extension worth $34 million on Monday, the Heat’s situation entering free agency is set.
How will the Heat fill out its roster in free agency after trading for two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo? Heat updates will be posted here throughout Day 1 of free agency. Please keep checking back, with updates to be added to the top.
Hardaway agrees to terms
The Heat reached an agreement with guard Tim Hardaway Jr. on a one-year, $6.5 million contract, a league source said. He gives the Heat a veteran shooting guard and floor spacer to replace Milwaukee-bound Tyler Herro.
Hardaway, 34, last season played in 80 games for Denver and averaged 13.5 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists while shooting a career-best 40.7% on three-pointers. He has averaged between 11 and 19.1 points each of the past nine seasons.
Hardaway played for the minimum salary last season, but positioned himself to earn more this summer after he finished third in the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year voting behind the Spurs’ Keldon Johnson and former Heat (and future Milwaukee Bucks) forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
The 6-5 Hardaway, who can play small forward and shooting guard, has averaged 13.7 points and shot 36.5 percent on three-pointers in 13 NBA seasons, covering 893 games and 428 starts.
He started six games for Denver last season and 77 for Detroit the previous season, when he averaged 11 points and shot 36.8 percent on three-pointers.
He began his career playing for the Knicks (as a 24th overall draft pick in 2013) and has played 5 1/2 seasons in Dallas, 3 ½ in New York, two in Atlanta and one each in Detroit and Denver. Hardaway played scholastically at Miami Palmetto High and went on to star at the University of Michigan.
The Heat now has about $6.5 million left to use of its mid-level exception. Miami has 12 roster spots filled and will add two or three other players on value deals. Though this leaves less money to offer free agent LeBron James, the allocation to Hardaway should not hurt the Heat if his camp was being forthright when it told a few national insiders that happiness, not money, will drive James’ decision on what team to play for.
Hardaway’s addition makes it even more unlikely that Miami will keep Norman Powell. Heat president Pat Riley said in April that games played will be important factor moving forward in free agent decisions. Powell topped 60 games just two of the past seven seasons. Conversely, Hardaway has topped 70 games each of the past four seasons.
Salary cap numbers set
The NBA announced just minutes before the 6 p.m. start of free agency that the salary cap for the 2026-27 season has been set at $164.961 million. The tax level for the 2026-27 season is $200.428 million.
The minimum team salary is $148.465 million.
The first apron level is $209.015 million.
The second apron level is $221.686 million.
The non-taxpayer midlevel for the 2026-27 season is $15.044 million, the taxpayer midlevel is $6.064 million and the midlevel for a team with room under the salary cap is $9.366 million.
James update
ESPN’s Lakers writer, Dave McMenamin, citing a source, said: “James has instructed Rich Paul to talk to everyone around the league who is interested in playing for them and come back to him with what the options are so he can make his decision.”
McMenamin said several members of James’ inner circle will meet him in Ohio in the days ahead.
Where roster stands
After striking a deal to bring back three-point shooting forward Simone Fontecchio on Tuesday morning, the Heat enters free agency with a salary-cap breakdown that includes 11 players on standard contracts for next season: Giannis Antetokounmpo ($58.5 million for 2026-27), Bam Adebayo ($49.5 million), Andrew Wiggins ($30.2 million), Nikola Jovic ($16.2 million), Bobby Portis ($14.5 million), Davion Mitchell ($12.4 million), Dru Smith ($2.6 million), Simone Fonteccio ($2.5 million salary, but $2.5 million cap hit), Pelle Larsson ($2.3 million), Myron Gardner ($500,000 of $2.6 million salary guaranteed) and Ryan Conwell (undetermined salary figure).
NBA teams are essentially required to carry at least 14 players on standard contracts and can have up to 15 players on standard deals during the regular season.
Assuming the Heat signs Conwell to a minimum contract that would come with a cap hit of about $1.4 million, the Heat now has about $192.5 million committed to salaries for 11 players.
With the projected salary cap for the 2026-27 season set at $165 million and the projected luxury tax set at $200.5 million, this means the Heat enters free agency already approaching luxury tax territory. With three or four roster spots still to fill for next season, the Heat is also on its way to approaching the first apron of $209 million.
The issue for the Heat is because it took back more salary than it sent out in the trade for Antetokounmpo and used a trade exception created last season to acquire Portis, it will be hard-capped at the projected first apron of $209 million for the entirety of next season.
That leaves the Heat just about $16.5 million under the first apron to add three to four players to standard contracts for next season.
Even if the Heat opts to begin this season with 14 players on standard deals (one fewer than the maximum) and minimum salaries (counting about $2.5 million each) are used to fill two of the open spots, the Heat is still left with just about $11.5 million left to use of its $15.1 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception to offer free agents up until the first apron.
With Fontecchio now off the market, only three players on the Heat’s season-ending 15-man standard roster are set to enter free agency this summer: Norman Powell (unrestricted free agent), Jahmir Young (unrestricted free agent) and Keshad Johnson (unrestricted free agent).
The Heat was expected to pursue three-point shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr. early in free agency, according to a league source, but it will likely need to offer him a portion of its midlevel exception to bring him to Miami. Hardaway, who is the son of former Heat star guard Tim Hardaway Sr., grew up in Miami and attended Palmetto High School.
But with James informing the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday that he won’t be re-sign with them, could the Heat wait to see what James’ plans are before using its midlevel exception on another free agent?
If James wants to return to the Heat, the team would have interest, a source conveyed to The Miami Herald on Tuesday.
James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh led the Heat to two NBA titles and four Finals appearances in their four years together (2010 through 2014) before James left in free agency to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Heat is considered among a few teams “that stand out from the pack,” according to ESPN insider Shams Charania. Multiple network insiders said Tuesday afternoon that no clear front-runner has emerged for James, but that money will not drive the decision.
Summer roster announced
The Heat unveiled its full summer league roster on Tuesday, and as expected, it includes two players currently under contract to the team (forward Myron Gardner and former UM guard Tre Donaldson, who is on a two-way contract), another who has received a two-way qualifying offer (center Vlad Goldin) and the team’s second round draft pick, guard Ryan Conwell.
Among the three players who did not receive qualifying offers from the Heat, Trevor Keels and Jahmir Young will play for the Heat’s summer league team but Keshad Johnson will not. All three players are free agents.
All of the 16 members of the Heat’s summer league roster had been previously reported, via our story here or on X, except for LSU rookie guard Cam Carter (16.4 points, 39.2% on threes in 32 starts last season) and second-year Baylor forward Kendall Brown, who shot 12 for 22 in 21 games and 103 minutes for the Pacers over two seasons (2022-2024).
Among the interesting stories on the Heat’s summer roster: Ian Schieffelin, a 6-8 forward, who spent last season playing for Clemson’s football team.
He started 99 games and appeared in 134 for Clemson’s basketball team over 4 years (averaged 12.4 points, 9.4 rebounds in 2024-25), then played football last season after using up his basketball eligibility. He caught two passes for 10 yards, playing 20 snaps for Dabo Swinney’s team.
Here’s the full roster:
77 Ezra Ausar F/C 6-8 240 02/14/03 Southern California/USA R
70 Kendall Brown G 6-7 205 05/11/03 Baylor/USA 2
57 Cam Carter G 6-3 190 03/17/03 Louisiana State/USA R
7 Ryan Conwell G 6-3 220 06/15/04 Louisville/USA R
11 Tre Donaldson G 6-2 210 12/11/03 Miami (FL)/USA R
15 Myron Gardner F 6-5 225 05/21/01 Little Rock/USA 1
50 Vladislav Goldin C 7-0 255 05/12/01 Michigan/Russia 1
73 J’Vonne Hadley F 6-5 210 04/03/02 Louisville/USA R
74 Keyshawn Hall F 6-6 235 04/09/03 Auburn/USA R
65 Meechie Johnson G 6-1 200 09/21/02 South Carolina/USA R
8 Trevor Keels G 6-5 215 08/26/03 Duke/USA 2
64 Nate Kingz G 6-3 195 11/14/02 Syracuse/USA R
76 Arnas Sakenis C 6-11 260 01/01/04 SIU Edwardsville/USA R
75 Ian Schieffelin F 6-8 240 03/01/03 Clemson/USA R
78 Tre White F 6-7 210 01/28/03 Kansas/USA R
17 Jahmir Young G 6-0 185 10/07/00 Maryland/USA 2
The Heat opens summer league play at the California Classic in San Francisco at 8 p.m. Friday against the San Antonio Spurs’ summer roster, the first of three games for Miami at Chase Center. TV information has not been announced for any of the three games, which also include a 4:30 p.m. Sunday game against the Lakers and a 10 p.m. Monday game against Golden State.
The Heat like every NBA team, will play at least five games at Las Vegas Summer League that will be held from July 9-19 (all times Eastern): vs. Milwaukee Bucks on July 10 at 4 p.m. on Prime and new Heat rights-holder WPLG-10, vs. Orlando Magic on July 11 at 3:30 p.m. on Prime and WPLG-10, vs. Cleveland Cavaliers on July 13 at 8 p.m. on Prime and WPLG-10, vs. Toronto Raptors on July 16 at 9 p.m. on ESPN2, and the fifth game will either be played on July 17, 18 or 19 with the opponent and game time determined later. Only the two teams that make the championship game will play a sixth game in Las Vegas Summer League.
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This story was originally published June 30, 2026 at 3:23 PM.
