Heat brings back three-point shooting forward Simone Fontecchio in free agency. The details
Hours before leaguewide free agent negotiations are allowed to begin at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, the Miami Heat struck a deal to bring back one of its free agents.
The Heat agreed to a one-year minimum contract to retain three-point shooting forward Simone Fontecchio. The deal can’t be formally signed until Wednesday.
The deal will pay Fontecchio $2.6 million this upcoming season, but his cap hit against the tax and aprons is $2.5 million because of NBA rules that lower cap hits on one-year minimum contracts.
With the Heat prioritizing three-point shooting in free agency after landing two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo in a trade agreed to last week, Fontecchio helps in that area.
Fontecchio, 30, averaged 8.5 points, three rebounds and 1.4 assists per game while shooting 41.2% from the field and 37.5% on 4.7 three-point attempts in 70 appearances (nine starts) during his first season with the Heat last regular season. He made five or more threes in six games last regular season.
Fontecchio, who went undrafted out of Italy in 2017, has shot 36.7% on 4.1 three-point attempts during his four-year NBA career. He played for the Detroit Pistons and Utah Jazz before initially joining the Heat in free agency last summer.
After committing a contract to Fontecchio, the Heat enters free agency with a salary-cap breakdown that includes 11 players on standard contracts for next season: 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), 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 seasons, which leaves the Heat with three to four standard roster spots to fill.
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 is 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.
While leaguewide free agent negotiations can’t begin until Tuesday at 6 p.m., NBA teams have been allowed to negotiate with their own impending free agents since June 14 after the NBA Finals ended.
