Ex-UM guard Tre Donaldson details decision to sign two-way deal with Heat: ‘The Heat culture’
With the Miami Heat set to open summer league on Friday, there will be plenty of attention on this year’s Heat second-round draft pick Ryan Conwell.
But the Heat’s new undrafted two-way contract developmental project, Miami Hurricanes guard Tre Donaldson, is also a player to watch this summer.
Donaldson (6-foot-2 and 210 pounds) committed to a two-way contract with the Heat shortly after going undrafted out of Miami on June 24.
“The Heat culture, I feel like, is the biggest thing. And I like to win, and they do a lot of that,” Donaldson said Thursday on a Zoom call with reporters when asked why he decided to sign with the Heat minutes after last month’s draft came to an end. “So just trying to be a part of that, trying to develop, understanding what I need to do for myself and my future. And just trying to get better. They do that really well and that’s what I was looking forward to.”
Donaldson is the only player who the Heat currently has signed to a two-way deal, with NBA teams allowed to have up to three players signed to two-way contracts at any one time.
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. Two-way deals can be swapped out at any time.
Donaldson, 22, set career highs across the board as a senior at Miami last season. He averaged career highs in points (16.4 per game), rebounds (3.6) and assists (5.7) while shooting 45.4& from the field and 35.9% on threes last season during his lone season with the Hurricanes.
That production was enough for Donaldson to be named to the All-ACC second team last season. He spent his first two college seasons as Auburn before transferring to Michigan for his junior season and then heading to Miami for his final college season.
Donaldson is from Tallahassee, and was a two-sport star in basketball and football in high school. He went through a predraft workout with the Heat at Kaseya Center after taking a red-eye flight from the West Coast in the wake of flight delays.
“It will probably be a workout I’ll never forget,” Donaldson said, with the Heat opening summer league play on Friday against the San Antonio Spurs’ summer team in San Francisco as part of the California Classic (8 p.m., ESPN, NBA TV and Prime Video). “I had got delayed a couple of times, coming off a red eye. No sleep. From the airport straight to the gym.
“It was probably the best red eye I ever took. Then just seeing Pat Riley for the first time, coach [Erik Spoelstra], and all those guys, it was super, super exciting. So I feel like that’s what gave me the energy to finish the workout and have a good one.”
According to the NBA’s scouting report on Donaldson, his “best attribute is his pace, as he’s consistently forcing the action in transition and pick-and-roll situations. He’s a point-of-attack defender, using his frame to pressure ballhandlers and generate steals without being reckless. Offensively, he can create off the bounce, hit the pull-up midrange jumper and showed genuine improvement as a distributor in his final collegiate season. The question marks center on his shooting consistency, as his accuracy dropped when he handled increased usage.”
After the first few summer league practices in California, Heat summer league head coach Wayne Ellington said Donaldson’s competitiveness has impressed him.
“He’s a competitor,” Ellington said during a Thursday Zoom call with reporters. “You saw that from him at University of Miami, and he’s doing it now. Another skill that he has as a point guard is he’s very vocal. He’s done a great job of getting guys organized, getting them in place. And that’s what you want from your point guard.”
With the Heat in search of further depth at guard, Donaldson will have an opportunity to help fill that need this upcoming season if he impresses during the team’s offseason program. The Heat traded guards Tyler Herro and Kasparas Jakucionis as part of the package sent to the Milwaukee Bucks to acquire two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, and lost guard Norman Powell to the Chicago Bulls in free agency.
“My playmaking. I feel like that’s the biggest thing,” Donaldson said when asked what skills he has that he believes are ready for the NBA. “That’s what I do. And then just the way I’m able to make the other four guys better. I’m able to control games, understanding what to do in certain times of the game, time and score, situations.
“So just bringing that to the team and then just my energy, my physicality with the build I have defensively, I feel like I can bother the ball on defense and become a pest.”
Donaldson is part of a 16-man Heat summer league roster that also includes forward/center Ezra Ausar, guard Kendall Brown, guard Cam Carter, Conwell, forward Myron Gardner, center Vlad Goldin, forward J’Vonne Hadley, forward Keyshawn Hall, guard Meechie Johnson, guard Trevor Keels, guard Nate Kingz, center Arnas Sakenis, forward Ian Schieffelin, forward Tre White and guard Jahmir Young. Conwell and Gardner are the only two players on the Heat’s summer league team who are also currently on the Heat’s standard roster for this upcoming season.
Friday’s summer league contest will mark the start of the Heat’s three-game schedule at the California Classic in San Francisco, which also includes matchups against the Los Angeles Lakers’ summer team on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. (ESPN and Prime Video) and the Golden State Warriors’ summer roster on Monday at 10 p.m. (NBA TV, Prime Video and ESPN+) at the Warriors’ home arena.
The Heat will then, like every NBA team, 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, vs. Orlando Magic on July 11 at 3:30 p.m. on Prime, vs. Cleveland Cavaliers on July 13 at 8 p.m. on Prime, 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.
“Going into summer league, I’m not looking to prove anything,” Donaldson said. “Just to solidify, to back up that I’m a great point guard, that I can control the game and do what my coaches and my teammates need me to do.”
CONWELL’S CONTRACT
The Heat signed Conwell to a three-year contract worth $6.3 million on Wednesday.
Conwell’s first NBA contract will pay him $1.4 million this upcoming season, and also comes with 50% of his salary guaranteed for the 2027-28 season and then a $2.7 million team option for the third season in 2028-29.
“Just super emotional,” Conwell said Thursday of signing his first NBA contract after being selected out of Louisville with the 37th overall pick in the second round of this year’s NBA Draft. “Just a great feeling just to be able to be a part of the association, be able to just take that next step in my basketball career. I’m just super thankful for the organization just believing in me.”
A SUMMER EXPERIMENT
The NBA will use summer league as a testing ground for a rule designed to help game flow.
During summer league, any foul that would typically result in one, two or three free throws under standard NBA rules will instead result in a single free throw attempt. That attempt will be worth the same total number of points as the free throws it replaces.
The G League has used this rule since the 2019-20 season.
