The Heat have officially inked rookie small forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. to his rookie scale contract, the team has announced (Twitter link).
Jaquez, a 6’7″ swingman, was selected with the No. 18 pick out of UCLA in this summer’s draft. During his final season with the team in 2022/23, the 22-year-old averaged 17.8 PPG on .481/.317/.770 shooting splits, 8.2 RPG and 2.4 APG. He was a consensus All-American Second Team honoree during his last collegiate run with the Bruins, and a three-time All-Pac-12 Teamer.
Miami also just officially signed Dru Smith and Jamaree Bouyea to two-way contracts, according to the league’s official transactions log. Though there is a general NBA moratorium on signings between July 1-6, two-way and rookie signings are still permitted even during this period.
Smith, a 6’3″ shooting guard, initially inked an affiliate deal with the Heat’s NBAGL team, the Sioux Fall Skyforce, in 2021 after going undrafted out of Missouri in 2021. He signed two-way deals with Miami and the Nets last season. Across 22 total games between the Skyforce and Long Island Nets in 2022/23, Smith averaged 15.5 PPG on .482/.379/.682 shooting splits, plus 5.5 RPG, 4.8 APG, 2.0 SPG and 0.6 BPG.
Bouyea, a 6’2″ combo guard, played on separate 10-day contracts with the Heat and Wizards as an undrafted rookie last year, appearing in a total of five games between both clubs.
The two-way qualifying offers that the Heat previously extended to restricted free agents Jamal Cain and Orlando Robinson are still on the table, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (via Twitter).
With word breaking that Trail Blazers All-Star point guard Damian Lillard would reportedly prefer to be dealt to Miami specifically, the Jaquez deal is a bit more notable, as it means that he now cannot be included as part of a trade for the next 30 days. That does not necessarily mean he cannot or will not be a part of a hypothetical package for Lillard, only that a move could not be officially finalized until July 31.
Let’s gooo. Really liked Dru Smith the last 2 years, and was hoping to get him back. He can give them help at the 1-3 spots, which is something they could use, even after adding Richardson, and especially if they were to trade for Lillard. Saw him as someone I was hoping to get back
Loved Bouyea. Thought he could get the opportunity, but I’m not sure of the spot, depending on who else we end up with. I would expect Cain to be a candidate for 1 of the final roster spots, and Robinson likely stays on the 2 way after they signed Bryant. So in that case, I expect 1 more spot, likely for someone on their summer league roster, like a Drew Peterson maybe
The league should pay attention to the 2 way signings. Especially when you consider how Miami develops these types of players
Bpuyea is like a Reggie Jackson type, and Dru Smith is a PG that can play 1-3. Makes good decisions, can shoot, playmake, is in the right spots defensively, plays hard. He controls the pace well at the PG spot, which I noticed immediately in summer league. He is a little deliberate…I think he doesmt guard certain guys Nnamdi did, but he does bring some stuff Vincent didn’t bring too. I do wonder about his fit, in comparison to Vincent, in lineups with Herro, Caleb, Jimmy, Bam., although it changes with Kevin Love in there instead of Bam, and that could be an issue in certain matchups, if the Heat dodnt have Richardson
Mexican Larry Bird