The Heat should try to get Josh Richardson to sign an extension as soon as possible, contends Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. After two NBA seasons, the former second-round pick is eligible for an extension up to four years and $42MM that would take effect with the 2018/19 season. Even at the full price, Richardson’s starting salary that year will be $9.4MM, which could be a bargain for someone who has been a contributor when he’s been healthy.
The deadline for an extension doesn’t come until June 30th, and Winderman thinks Richardson might be wise to wait. If there’s no agreement, he will become a restricted free agent in July, with the Heat having the right to match any offer. The team will also have full Bird Rights, which would eliminate the possibility of a backloaded contract like the one the Nets offered Tyler Johnson. Winderman also notes that Miami will send two of its next four first-rounders to Phoenix in the Goran Dragic trade, so it can’t afford to lose a young talent like Richardson.
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- With their current cap status, the Heat have little reason to try to move Johnson’s contract before it balloons in 2018/19, Winderman adds in a question-and-answer column. Johnson will make close to $5.9MM for the upcoming season, then nearly $19.25MM in each of the next two years. It’s a provision that Brooklyn threw into its offer sheet in an attempt to discourage the Heat from matching, and it was eliminated in the new collective-bargaining agreement. Winderman states that if Miami is successful with its current mix of players, the team will continue to operate over the cap and Johnson’s escalation won’t really matter.
- With a supermax contract in hand, Wizards star John Wall has outlined several goals for the rest of his career, relays Chase Hughes of CSNMidAtlantic. At a press conference Friday to officially announce the new deal, Wall said he wants to win a championship in Washington and become the fifth player in franchise history to have his number retired. “We definitely have a lot of unfinished business,” Wall told reporters. “I want to bring a championship here, so we’re going to keep striving to get that. I’m not going to stop until we get there. That’s why I wanted to come back to this city.”
- The Hawks are adopting a radical approach as they take over the G League franchise in Erie, Pa., writes Chris Reichert of 2 Ways and 10 Days. Instead of finding people with G League experience to run the team, they appointed Malik Rose as general manager and last week hired longtime NBA assistant Josh Longstaff as the head coach. Because Orlando pulled its G-League team out of Erie and took its returning player rights, the Bayhawks will be part of the expansion draft August 23rd.
Hope the Heat lock up JRich. Feel like he still has potential to improve
It’s nice to retain flexibility, but we have money locked up right now. Most of it is movable though, and that sort of is another way of retaining flexibility. With that being said, I think we should sign Richardson, if we can get him at one of those deals. If he has a healthy season, and plays at the level he could on both ends of the floor, he could potentially see something in the $13-18 million per range. He could get screwed in Restricted Free Agency, so that might be incentive to sign now. It’s a pretty interesting situation. Based on the Free Agents available next year, and the lack of cap space around the league, he might be better off taking the security of the extension
How you think we’re going to go formerlyz? I think we’ll be in a close race for top 4 in the east
It feels like there is still a lot left to determine this off-season, but I guess with so much money locked up around the league, there really isn’t, even with the amount of free agents still out there…i usually like to wait until right before training camp, and then again right before the regular season, but I’d say the Heat should be right there in the 3-7 range for sure, and anything can really happen during the season when injuries start happening and stuff like that
I feel like Cleveland, Boston, Toronto, Washington, and Milwaukee have the top 5 locked down, barring injuries. After that, Miami looks like a legit number 6 seed that is well equipped for a playoff series, and could make a solid run.
I believe heat would of already offered it so just got to hope he takes it. Would be a bargain at that price if he keeps improving