Free agent guard Gabe Vincent isn’t satisfied with the Heat‘s contract offer and will likely leave the team unless it improves, sources tell Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
Jackson and Chiang report that Miami proposed a deal worth slightly more than the three-year, $20.6MM contract Caleb Martin signed last summer. Vincent was reportedly expecting a lot more after taking over as the Heat’s starting point guard and helping them reach the NBA Finals. Team president Pat Riley traveled to Los Angeles this week to meet with Vincent and urge him to re-sign, according to the authors.
Backcourt partner Max Strus seems certain to get a better deal that what the Heat can offer, according to Jackson and Chiang, who report that a three-team sign-and-trade swap has been discussed that would send Strus to the Cavaliers. They don’t identify who else would be involved, but Miami would receive a trade exception and a second-round pick in return. The Pacers, Pistons and Magic have also been identified as potential destinations for Strus.
Re-signing Vincent or Strus would be expensive for the Heat, who already have $179.3MM committed for next season, which is above the projected $165MM luxury tax line. The authors note that giving either player a new deal starting at $12MM would add more than $30MM to the team’s tax bill.
Marc Stein confirms in his latest Substack column that Cleveland is a legitimate threat to add Strus. Stein, who reported this week that Indiana was considering a three-year, $48MM offer for the 27-year-old shooting guard, has since been told that there are multiple suitors for Strus and that Indiana may not be his most likely destination. Cleveland is working to upgrade its outside shooting, Stein adds.
The Raptors could be an option for Vincent if Fred VanVleet signs with the Rockets, suggests Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link). Sources tell Grange that Vincent isn’t expected to return to the Heat and that an offer worth the full $12.4MM non-taxpayer mid-level exception should be enough to land him.
Heat can trade Lowry away and bring no salary back, then sign both free agents
Use protected Firsts
They need to keep my boy Kyle Lowry he’s on an expiring deal and likely to retire after this season so it will be nice for him to finish his career with the Miami Heat.
Gabe Vincent and Max Strus both going to get paid more than what I think the Miami Heat can pay them. Two solid role players that might just need a change of scenery.
Not that it’s a bad situation it’s just Miami Heat are Star hunting for Damian Lillard and not trying to do anything to jeopardize that.
MIA doesn’t really need either of these guys if they get Lillard; but they need at least Vincent if they don’t. It’s a buyer’s (teams’) market salary-wise, but its hard to see them getting even a decent starting PG for less than Vincent can command.
You mean the way they got Nnamdi in the first place…
Vincent and Strus are dumb to leave Miami. They may get more money, but staying in Miami will give them more meaningful playing time and more popularity, which leads to more of that Miami poon.
This isnt anything unexpected. As I’ve been saying, I expected both to be going elsewhere back when they signed their 2 year deals, especially Strus. Again, Heat culture is sometimes letting those guys go and show everyone what they can be with what they are now.
I assumed they were just meeting with Nnamdi to give him an extra team on him for leverage. They probably said, this is what we have for you. If not, go out there, get what you can get, and show everyone what you can really do
Strus is super valuable for a lot of potential places. If they do some kind of sign and trade, I would hope they could get a better asset