Heat trades up in second round to take Louisville three-point shooting guard Ryan Conwell
With the Miami Heat sending a chunk of its young core to the Milwaukee Bucks to land two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Heat began the process of restocking its youth in the second round of this year’s NBA Draft.
After the Heat’s first-round selection at No. 13 overall on Tuesday went to the Bucks as part of the Antetokounmpo trade, the Heat dealt the 41st overall selection in the second round and cash to the Oklahoma City Thunder to take Louisville guard Ryan Conwell with the 37th overall pick in the second round on Wednesday night, a league source confirmed to the Miami Herald.
The Heat didn’t have a second-round pick in this year’s draft at the start of 2026, but Miami received the 41st selection that it dealt to the Thunder from the Hornets in March to resolve a dispute over guard Terry Rozier being under NBA and federal investigation over alleged gambling when Charlotte traded him to Miami in January 2024.
Conwell (6-foot-2 and 215 pounds) averaged 18.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 40.8% from the field, 34.5% on threes and 83.2% from the foul line as a senior at Louisville last season. He’s known for his three-point shooting, as he averaged 9.6 three-point attempts per game last season.
Conwell made 38.4% of his 800-plus three-point attempts during his final three years in college, including 41.1% of his 567 catch-and-shoot threes, according to The Athletic.
“I think my personality fits the culture of the team, and I’ll fit right in with the other guys on the team. Just my willingness to learn and grow each and every single day,” Conwell said during a Zoom call with South Florida reporters after being selected by the Heat. “And then I would say just my ability to space the floor, my shooting ability, being able to plug and place me anywhere on the floor and me just always having that gravity of just drawing some attention. And then just my competitiveness, just on both ends of the floor, just being a dog and just giving all I got defensively and offensively.”
Conwell, who turned 22 on June 15 and watched the draft from his hometown of Indianapolis, began his college career South Florida before transferring to Indiana State for his sophomore season and Xavier for his junior season, and then closing his college career at Louisville.
“Well, clearly we’re trying to identify players that have a shooting skill, and he certainly does,” Heat vice president of basketball operations and assistant general manager Adam Simon said of Conwell minutes after the draft wrapped up Wednesday night. “He’s projected overall as a 37% shooter, which would have been in the top percentile of 650 players that we had studied. And his athleticism is off the charts. He’s a competitor, he’s a gym rat, he’s the type of player I know our coaches are going to love, and he’s a great teammate. I think he’ll slot in perfectly.”
According to the NBA’s scouting report on Conwell, he “projects as a plug-and-play floor spacer with the size and feel to fit cleanly into any modern NBA offense. His shot diet is already optimized for the league, his frame holds up in physical matchups and his off-ball activity gives coaches a willing piece to weave into screen and handoff actions. In terms of NBA comparisons, Conwell shares similarities to Donte DiVincenzo, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Cam Spencer. Conwell could step in as an immediate rotation contributor and grow into more from there.”
The Athletic’s NBA Draft expert Sam Vecenie wrote: “Conwell is a bit stuck between positions, but he’s a great shooter with a quick release who is already to fire. ... He gives effort on the defense end but can sometimes give up size, which means he’s going to be mostly effective defending guards. Still, the idea here is that he’s a smart team defender who can help you while drilling a ton of open shots created for him by others.”
Kevin O’Connor from Yahoo Sports wrote: “Miami badly needs shot creation in the backcourt after dumping nearly everything to acquire Giannis Antetokounmpo from Milwaukee, so it’s a logical choice to trade into this spot for Conwell. After his college career took him from South Florida to Indiana State to Xavier, and then to Louisville, he got better at every stop. By the end of his senior year he was the leading scorer for the Cardinals at 18.8 points per game as a knockdown shooter with deep range and a bruiser at the rim who absorbs contact like a fullback. My top comparison for him? Norm Powell, who shined this year with the Heat but is reportedly expected to leave in free agency. Maybe Conwell can fill those shoes as a rookie.”
Conwell is the Heat’s first second-round pick since 2024, when it came away with guard Pelle Larsson with the 44th overall selection. Among the other recent players who the Heat selected or traded for in the second round are KZ Okpala in 2019 and Josh Richardson in 2015.
While first-round picks are slotted into salaries through the NBA’s rookie scale, there isn’t as much structure with second-round selections.
The Heat can use one of its three two-way contract slots to sign Conwell, which means he wouldn’t count against the salary cap and wouldn’t take up a spot on Miami’s 15-man roster of standard deals.
The Heat could also add Conwell to its 15-man roster by using a standard contract, with a few different options to sign him in this scenario.
While the Heat’s doesn’t have cap space, it can use a minimum contract to sign Conwell to a standard deal and that would come with a $1.4 million cap hit. But minimum deals can be no longer than two seasons in length.
The Heat could also use part of its $15.1 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception to sign Conwell to a standard contract. But Miami could be reserving this exception for veteran free agents as a team in win-now mode following the acquisition of Antetokounmpo.
Or more realistically, the Heat could use the relatively new second-round pick exception to sign Conwell to a standard contract that includes a first-year salary worth up to the minimum salary for a player with one year of NBA experience of $2.2 million. Every team that made a second-round selection has a second-round pick exception, which can be used to sign a second-round pick to a three- or four-year contract without needing to use a mid-level exception to do it.
After adding Antetokounmpo and veteran forward Bobby Portis, the Heat’s current salary-cap breakdowns includes nine players on standard contracts for next season: Antetokounmpo ($58.5 million for 2026-27), Bam Adebayo ($49.5 million), Nikola Jovic ($16.2 million), Portis ($14.5 million), Davion Mitchell ($12.4 million), Dru Smith (fully nonguaranteed $2.6 million), Larsson ($2.3 million), Myron Gardner ($250,000 of $2.6 million salary guaranteed) and Jahmir Young (fully nonguaranteed $2.4 million).
Andrew Wiggins could become the 10th player to join that list if he exercises the $30.2 million player option in his contract with the Heat, which he must decide on by Monday.
Conwell would be the 11th player to join that list if he signs a standard contract with the Heat. If it’s a two-way contract, Conwell would be one of the three two-way contract players that the Heat is able to have at any one time.
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.
While Conwell is the Heat’s draft pick this year, NBA teams quickly shift their attention shortly after the end of the draft to mine the pool of undrafted players in an effort to fill out summer league rosters and find other prospects to add to their player development programs.
The Heat begins the summer circuit at the four-team California Classic on July 3 in San Francisco. The Heat’s summer squad will then join the rest of the NBA at Las Vegas Summer League, which will run from July 9-19.
This story was originally published June 24, 2026 at 9:09 PM.
