Exploring the major decision that the Heat made with salary cap and the alternative path
Anytime a team can lure a proven All Star and one of the top players in free agency — as the Heat did with Kyle Lowry — it’s a successful offseason.
Let’s start there.
The Heat is better than it was a month ago.
But could the Heat have simply used cap space to sign Lowry and not given up a promising young forward in Precious Achiuwa?
Yes, and it was interesting that the Heat opted not to.
Here’s how it unfolded and what would have been Miami’s alternative path:
The Heat gave Lowry a three-year, $85 million deal with salaries of $26.89 million, $28.333 million and $29.68 million. The deal is fully guaranteed with no options for either party.
Miami opted to acquire Lowry through a sign-and-trade with Toronto that sent Goran Dragic and Achiuwa there. That decision allowed Miami to keep Bird Rights on free agents Trevor Ariza and Andre Iguodala (who both signed elsewhere) and Victor Oladipo. It also gave Miami a $9.5 million mid-level exception, of which most was allocated to P.J. Tucker.
But as it turned out, the Heat could have signed Lowry with cap space and kept Duncan Robinson, Achiuwa, Oladipo and Dwayne Dedmon and everyone else who was already under contract (Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, KZ Okpala).
That could have been achieved by rescinding Robinson’s qualifying offer, which would have lowered his cap hit from $4.7 million to $1.7 million even though he will make $15.6 million this season. So the Heat would have had on its books Butler, Adebayo, Herro, Ryan Anderson’s $5.2 million stretch hit, Okpala, Robinson and Achiuwa.
With $925,000 cap holds for five empty roster spots, Miami — in this cap space scenario — would have been able to pay Lowry as much as $28.3 million in the first year, compared to the $26.9 million he will make.
Miami then could have replaced those cap holds for five empty roster spots with minimum deals for Markieff Morris, Oladipo, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent and Omer Yurtseven. (All five took minimum deals from Miami anyway.) This all would have worked within the cap as long as signings came in the proper order, a longtime veteran front office executive confirmed to me. (Kendrick Nunn wouldn’t have fit in under the cap in this scenario, but he was jettisoned anyway.)
But here’s the big caveat: In that scenario, Miami would not have had the exception money to sign Tucker, who got that two-year deal from the Heat starting at $7 million this season.
But the Heat would instead have had a $4.9 million room exception and could have given that to stretch power forward Jeff Green, who took two years and $10 million from Denver and likely would have taken essentially the same deal in Miami, where he and his wife live.
So the Heat ultimately opted for Tucker over what could have been Achiuwa and Green. I would have taken the Achiuwa/Green combo over Tucker, but I could understand the Heat’s desire to add Tucker after his elite defensive work in the playoffs.
Green averaged 11 points and shot 41.2 percent on threes for the Nets last season; Achiuwa has promise, which he flashed in producing double-doubles in his four NBA starts.
Heat general manager Andy Elisburg might be the best cap expert in sports, and Pat Riley might be the best team executive in our market’s history, so their decision to go the Lowry trade route — instead of using cap space — was intentional, not an oversight. And in their defense, they couldn’t have known that Oladipo would take the minimum; the Heat could not have given Oladipo more in the cap room scenario unless he got Miami’s $4.9 million exception, which would have been needed for a power forward.
Nevertheless, it’s a decision that will be worth monitoring in the years ahead, with Tucker on the back end of his career and Achiuwa a promising young player.
The big winner in the Heat’s decision? Dragic, because he will make $19.4 million this coming season.
BUTLER CONTRACT
Butler made one small concession in his max extension with the Heat that runs through 2025-26.
Butler could have opted out of his contract in 2022-23 and signed a new deal with a salary of $42 million that season.
But as ESPN’s Bobby Marks noted, Butler instead exercised his player option for that season, which will pay him $37.65 million in 2022-23. The Heat likely will be operating as an over-the-cap team next summer, but that Butler concession will give the Heat more room under the luxury tax in ‘22-23.
Butler’s max salaries for the following three seasons are $45.2 million, $48.8 million and $52.4 million. That final season is a player option. So Butler will earn as much as he possibly could make in those three seasons, with the 2023-23 salary not impacting the salary in the three following seasons.
Butler cannot be traded until Feb. 7, 2022 - in the highly unlikely event that the Heat traded him.
THIS AND THAT
▪ Kyle Lowry on his free agent experience: “Throughout the whole process, people think free agency is such a great time. It’s stressful, it’s stressful, man. It’s tough to make a decision on where you’re going to be moving and uprooting your family and kind of being part of one organization, knowing how the ins and outs of working in one organization to moving to another organization. Finding houses, school and all that stuff, it’s a tough decision and it’s really kind of nerve wracking.
“For me, it was just I sat back and watched it. The opportunity for me to be wanted was cool because I’ve put myself in a position to show myself that I’m a winner. No matter what happens, I’m going to try to help a team win. To be wanted is always a great feeling.”
▪ Because adding a 15th player before the season would put them over the luxury tax, the Heat likely will initially rely on players on two-way contracts to fill in at guard if the team is impacted by injuries early in this upcoming season. The Heat hasn’t yet filled those two two-way spots, with Kansas guard Marcus Garrett a top candidate for one of those contracts.
Two-way players can play in as many as 50 games next season.
▪ A few contract details: Tucker has a player option on year two of his contract. So he will make $7 million this season and then can make $7.35 million in 2022-23 if he exercises his option…
Duncan Robinson’s salaries the next five seasons: $15.56 million, $16.9 million, $18.15 million, $19.04 million and $19.88 million. He can terminate the contract after four years and become a free agent at that time if he chooses.
Morris will make $2.6 million this season, Oladipo and Dedmon $2.4 million. All are minimum contracts but the amount varies based on years of experience…
Bobby Portis has a $4.6 million player option for 2022-23 in his Milwaukee Bucks contract, meaning the Heat can again pursue him next summer if he opts out and if Miami chooses to do so. The Heat had interest in Portis in free agency, but he opted to stay with the defending champions.
▪ Pat Riley and Ray Allen will be Chris Bosh’s Hall of Fame presenters on Sept. 11. Riley and Allen won’t speak on stage, per Hall rules.
