The Heat and Dorell Wright are scheduled to meet about the possibility of a deal, league sources told The Vertical’s Shams Charania. The sources suggested the sides could have a formal agreement by Sunday, Charania adds. Miami is once more eligible to sign a player without crossing the tax threshold.
The Heat have 13 players, two shy of the limit, and they reportedly plan to carry 15 players into the playoffs. They’re only $46,106 shy of the tax and a prorated minimum salary contract would count $5,572 per day for tax purposes. That means they can sign one player today and another on Wednesday, the final day of the regular season, while still avoiding the tax. Sunday is the first day they could sign two players in one day without incurring the tax.
Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald wrote this weekend that the Heat were considering Wright, as well as Briante Weber. Reports have connected the Heat and Wright since last summer, when Jackson heard the sides were in talks. The 11-year NBA veteran wound up signing to play in China, but the Chinese season is over and he’s free to sign with any NBA team. The Heat checked on Wright shortly before the end of his time in China, as Jackson reported then.
The 30-year-old Wright told Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders last month that he would prefer a multiyear deal, and while the Heat have the ability to accommodate him, it would slightly after the timing of their ability to sign him and fill the 15th roster spot, since that would increase his salary for tax purposes to $8,819 per day. The Heat would meanwhile insist that Wright and anyone else they sign be comfortable with the idea of being placed on the inactive list for playoff games, as Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel hears (Twitter link). NBA teams can only have 13 active players for any game.
Still, the Heat and Wright have a long history that dates to 2004, when Miami drafted him 19th overall. He played his first six NBA seasons with Miami and has a close relationship with Dwyane Wade, Charania notes. His most recent NBA appearance was with the Trail Blazers last season, when he averaged 4.6 points in 12.3 minutes per game with 38% 3-point shooting.
Dorell Wright would be a nice fit. We’ve seen that if Deng gets hurt, the roster is currently very limited in filling in, which is the case in other areas, considering that there are only 11 bodies available right now. He could give them something different from McRoberts at the 4 position, and allow them to continue with the smaller lineups