MIAMI — Typically, July 4 stands as a demarcation in the NBA’s free-agent process, a period when there is a pause from the initial rush of major signings, a reset by some who had sights set higher, and the reality of dwindling remaining cap cash around the league.
The holding pattern tends to become even more defined when the personnel moratorium is lifted and agreements can turn into signings, which this year is Saturday at 12:01 p.m.
For now, as has been the case almost through these opening five days of free agency, it mostly has been a holding pattern for the Miami Heat.
At the moment, there are the matters that have already been handled by Pat Riley and the Heat’s front office, the uncertainty for those from the team’s 2024-25 roster still among the undecided, and then what comes next.
Already accomplished
Love returns: After opting out of the final, $4 million season on the two-year contract signed last summer in free agency, backup center Kevin Love returned on a similar two-year contract at $4 million a season.
Unlike his previous contract, there are no option years in the agreement. The deal with Love, 35, did not provide cap relief from his previous Heat contract.
Bryant back: Like Love, backup center Thomas Bryant opted out of the final year of the two-year contract signed last summer in free agency, returning on a salary similar to that bypassed by opting out.
Unlike with Love, the opt-out and re-signing by Bryant, 26, saves the Heat about $800,000 against the cap and tax aprons.
Richardson returns: Unlike Love and Bryant, Richardson picked up the $3.1 million 2024-25 option on the two-year contract signed last summer in free agency.
Had Richardson opted out and then re-signed at the same salary, it could have saved the Heat a similar amount against the cap and tax aprons as Bryant’s move. The difference with Richardson is he is working amid the uncertainty of his recovery from last season’s surgical shoulder injury.
Burks added: The lone veteran added this offseason, scoring wing Alec Burks, 32, signed a one-year, $3.3 million veteran-scale contract that will count $2.1 million against the cap and tax aprons.
Burks helps compensate to a degree for the free-agency loss of guard Delon Wright, who took a similar one-year free-agency deal with the Milwaukee Bucks.
The draft picks: Because of certain signing allowances during the moratorium, the Heat on Monday were able to get first-round pick Kel’el Ware and second-round pick Pelle Larsson under contract.
Both are training with the Heat in San Francisco ahead of summer-league play that opens Saturday at the California Classic on the court of the Golden State Warriors.
The two-ways: Contract signings with two-way players also are allowed during the moratorium, with the Heat filling those three available spots with returning guard Dru Smith and undrafted prospects Zyon Pullin, the guard out of Florida, and Keshad Johnson, the forward out of Arizona.
What makes those contracts somewhat curious is that the Heat also have two-way offers in place to Cole Swider and Alondes Williams, players who finished last season on two-way contracts with the team. Both can be elevated to the standard roster at any point.
Summer roster: Summer contracts also can be signed at any time, with the Heat on Wednesday announcing a 14-player summer-league roster that includes, among others, Josh Christopher, a 6-foot-4 guard who was a first-round pick by the Houston Rockets in 2021 and finished this past season playing for the Sioux Falls Skyforce, the Heat’s G League affiliate.
The waiting game
Caleb Martin: A key contributor to Heat playoff runs the past three seasons, with 45 games of postseason experience over that span, Martin remains a free agent after bypassing a 2024-25 Heat player option for $7.1 million.
Based on the Heat’s position against the luxury tax and the new punitive aprons, the Heat would be hard pressed to bring back Martin even at the salary he bypassed by opting out last weekend.
Haywood Highsmith: An unrestricted free agent like Martin, Highsmith is another two-way contributor potentially priced out of the Heat’s market.
Highsmith could be part of the next wave of signings around the league, when teams turn to exception money after spending through cap space.
Jamal Cain: The third player to finish last season on a Heat two-way contract (along with Swider and Williams), Cain was not extended a qualifying offer and is an unrestricted free agent.
Cain is not on the Heat summer roster and therefore not expected to return for a third season after joining the team as an undrafted free agent out of Oakland University in 2022.
Patty Mills: A late-season pickup off the buyout market, Mills is an unrestricted free agent who had expressed an interest in a return.
Based on the Heat bringing back Richardson and signing Burks, a return by Mills, 35, appears a longshot.
Up next
Adebayo extension: Center Bam Adebayo already has agreed to a three-year, $166 million extension, with the window for that signing opening on Saturday.
Based on Adebayo’s participation this coming week in USA Basketball camp in Las Vegas ahead of the Paris Olympics, expect pen to paper being imminent.
Jimmy Butler extension: An extension window for forward Jimmy Butler opens Sunday.
While it initially appeared Butler would insist on a maximum such deal immediately, NBA sources now say the intent is to table such negotiations to a later date, as Butler enters what potentially could be the final year on his contract (with a player option for 2025-26).
Orlando Robinson deadline: The Heat have a July 15 deadline to guarantee the full $2.1 million 2024-25 salary for the backup center.
With Love and Bryant returning, and with Ware selected in the first round, it is unlikely the Heat would commit to yet another big man. A compromise could be to defer the guarantee deadline to a later date.
