Heat doesn’t land Donovan Mitchell, now has less reason to withhold Herro extension
.JPG "Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (14) shoots in front of Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Friday, Dec. 3, 2021.")
The latest neon name to be linked to the Heat ended up elsewhere on Thursday, when Utah traded guard Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland for a package of players and draft picks.
And that seemingly increases the likelihood of the Heat making an effort to extend Tyler Herro’s contract before an Oct. 18 deadline for players on rookie deals.
Extending Herro, who has one year remaining on his contract, would make it virtually impossible to trade him in the next year because of arcane NBA salary cap rules.
But with Mitchell off the table, and the Nets keeping Kevin Durant, the Heat would now have far less incentive to withhold an extension for Herro, who won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award last season.
The Knicks long were considered the favorite to land Mitchell. Earlier Thursday, ESPN reported that the Heat had interest in Mitchell, and the interest was mutual. Mitchell has spent considerable time in South Florida this offseason and is close with Bam Adebayo.
But the Heat never presented a package that was appealing to the Jazz, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
Cleveland acquired Mitchell for Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji, Collin Sexton, three unprotected first-round picks and two pick swaps.
Sexton will sign a four-year, $72 million fully guaranteed deal as part of a sign-and-trade agreement with Utah, according to ESPN.
The Cavaliers are sending their 2025, 2027 and 2029 first-round picks and pick swaps in 2026 and 2028, according to multiple reports.
The Heat could have sent only two first-round picks to Utah unless OKC agreed to unlock protections on a third first-round Heat pick that’s due the Thunder.
Herro, who’s due to make $5.7 million this coming season, would be an restricted free agent next summer if he doesn’t agree to an extension, with the Heat able to match any outside offers.
But the Heat historically has extended players on rookie contracts, including Bam Adebayo, Josh Richardson and Justice Winslow.
Herro could command a four-year extension worth $100 million or more.
Herro could sign for five seasons only if it’s a max extension, which would be worth as much as $188 million, with a first-year salary (2023-24) of $32.5 million. But a max deal is considered unlikely.
If Herro signs an extension with the Heat, he would essentially be untradable until the 2023 offseason, because first-round picks (Herro was a first-round pick in 2019) who receive extensions before their fourth NBA seasons are subject to the “Poison Pill Provision,” which would make it difficult for the Heat to include Herro in a trade until July 1, 2023.
This provision means that when a player is traded between the date the extension is signed and the date it takes effect, the player’s trade value for the receiving team is the average of the salaries in the last year of their rookie scale contract and each year of their extension. But the outgoing salary in the trade for the sending team is the players’ actual salary for that season in the last year of their rookie scale deal.
So if Herro hypothetically signs a four-year extension worth $104 million, the acquiring team would take him in at about $22 million for salary-matching purposes in a trade while the Heat would send him out at his $5.7 million salary for this upcoming season because of the “Poison Pill Provision.”
Extending Herro thus would drastically reduce the Heat’s chances of acquiring any star who asks for a trade between the time of Herro’s extension and the mid-February trade deadline.
There’s no indication that any current NBA star has asked for a trade; Bradley Beal appears content in Washington and Damian Lillard appears ready to go through a rebuild in Portland.
Herro was the Heat’s second leading scorer, averaging a career-high 20.7 points per game. He has expressed an interest in being a starter this season; Pat Riley has said he will need to earn that job in training camp.
Barring something unforeseen, the Heat is prepared to open camp in late September with this current roster.
If Miami acquires a power forward, Phoenix’s Jae Crowder remains a possibility. Though he hasn’t publicly asked for a trade, he has liked multiple social media posts suggesting that the Heat acquire him.
Crowder holds some appeal to the Heat.
But it’s unclear if Phoenix is interested in trading him, and any deal between the teams would require considerable creativity because of the lack of obvious matching salaries to facilitate a trade from a salary cap standpoint. He’s due $10.2 million in 2022-23, the final season of his contract.
This story was originally published September 1, 2022 at 4:37 PM.
