Davion Mitchell

Heat Notes: Smith, Herro, Rozier, Jaquez

October 18th, 2025 at 6:30pm CST by Arthur Hill

Dru Smith continues his remarkable recovery from the Achilles tear he suffered last December and will begin the regular season without a minutes restriction, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra confirmed that Smith received full medical clearance, but he plans to be cautious in how he uses the shooting guard, who has suffered two major injuries in the past two seasons.

“He’s not on a minutes restriction,” Spoelstra said, “but we want to be responsible right now. All of these are big victories. He’s way ahead of schedule. We want to keep on just stacking up these wins.”

Winderman suggests that Smith may be in the starting lineup for Wednesday’s opener at Orlando, considering the injuries that have already affected Miami’s backcourt. Tyler Herro is recovering from ankle surgery, while Davion Mitchell and Kasparas Jakucionis both missed time during the preseason due to physical issues.

Smith said he has already overcome the mental aspect of returning to the court following a major injury.

“While I’m out there, I’m not thinking about it at all,” he said. “I’ve been doing a lot more stuff pre-wise — like pregame, before the game, just to stay on top of everything, just take all the precautions that I can, to make sure that my body is ready whenever I do get out there. And after that, I’m just playing basketball. At the end of the day, I can’t control it. It is what it is, so I might as well just try to be myself.”

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It’s almost certain that the Heat won’t agree to an extension with Herro before Monday’s deadline, league sources tell Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Chiang hears that Heat officials want to see how Herro follows up his career-best season before committing to a pricey extension, and one source says the team didn’t make a formal offer during recent negotiating sessions. If no deal is reached, Herro will become eligible for a four-year extension worth up to $206.9MM next summer and could raise that ceiling to a five-year, $380MM super-max deal if he makes an All-NBA team.
Terry Rozier made his preseason debut Friday night after returning from a strained hamstring. The 31-year-old guard, who’s in the final year of his contract and faces an uncertain future in Miami, told Winderman in a separate story that he wants “a fair chance” to prove himself after a forgettable 2024/25 season. “Last season it was rough, definitely for me,” Rozier said. “So I had a whole lot of the whole summer just to reflect on what I want to do and what I want to bring to this team. I’m ready. Like I said, just hopefully I get the equal opportunity, equal as everybody. But if not, I’m still going to be here in voice and be that vet.”
Jaime Jaquez Jr. hopes to rediscover the success of his rookie season by attacking the basket more often rather than spotting up for threes like he did last year, Winderman adds in another piece. “I just stopped putting pressure on myself to make or miss threes,” Jaquez said. “Make it, miss it, stop letting it affect me. I think last year I was trying to put so much emphasis and pressure on myself to try to just be that. And this year, I’m just focusing on my strengths, and one of those strengths is just getting downhill, creating for my team and sometimes for myself.”

Heat Notes: Ware, Jakucionis, Adebayo, Mitchell

October 13th, 2025 at 11:00am CST by Arthur Hill

Kel’el Ware continues to post impressive numbers in the preseason, and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra continues to push him to expand his game to do more things that impact winning, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Ware’s latest big performance came on Sunday night as he posted 24 points, 10 rebounds, an assist and two steals in 25 minutes in a loss to Orlando.

“I would much rather coach somebody who’s willing to be coached, who can put up 24 (points) and 10 (rebounds), and figure out how to get those winning moments during the course of a game,” Spoelstra said. “That’s where we are.”

Spoelstra called out Ware during Summer League, citing a need to improve his “professionalism,” and has continued to set a high standard for the second-year center since training camp began. Ware told reporters that he tries to take inspiration from Spoelstra’s critiques.

“I always take anything that the coach says to me as motivation,” Ware said. “I take it and I try to impact it into my game, and I try to play as hard as I can. Like I said in the last interview, I was still getting my legs back under me from training camp.”

Ware exceeded expectations as a rookie and became a starter alongside Bam Adebayo as the season wore on. Spoelstra said “all things are on the table” regarding his starting lineup, but Chiang notes that Ware was used off the bench in the first three preseason games and only started on Sunday because Adebayo was being rested on the first night of a back-to-back.

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Kasparas Jakucionis left Sunday’s game in the first quarter with soreness in his right hip, Chiang adds in the same piece. The rookie guard missed the first two preseason contests because of a sprained left wrist before playing on Wednesday. “It is a little frustration,” he said. “But these things I can’t control. So I’m just trying to control what I can control and do my thing.”
In a separate story, Adebayo talks to Chiang about the experience of supporting girlfriend A’ja Wilson as she led Las Vegas to the WNBA title. Adebayo practiced with the Heat on Friday, flew to Phoenix to watch the Aces clinch the championship that night, then returned to Miami in time for Saturday afternoon’s practice.
Davion Mitchell made his preseason debut on Sunday after sitting out three games with calf soreness, per Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel. Mitchell, who re-signed with Miami on a two-year, $24MM deal this summer, only played in the first half and finished with two points and two assists in 10 minutes. “Preseason is kind of when you get your rhythm,” he said. “Especially with our new offense, kind of learn how to play the new offense. But for me, it’s just kind of just trying to find my rhythm. But I’ll figure that out in the next couple days.”

Heat Notes: Mitchell, Ware, Jakucionis, Keels

October 10th, 2025 at 5:00pm CST by Eli Cohen

Kasparas Jakucionis and Pelle Larsson returned from injuries to make their preseason debuts on Wednesday, and there appears to be more good news on the horizon for the Heat, writes Anthony Chiang for the Miami Herald. According to Chiang, guard Davion Mitchell, who missed part of training camp with calf soreness and has yet to suit up during the preseason, is expected to be available for Sunday’s game against the Magic.

The 27-year-old point guard was not overly concerned about the injury.

“It was just a calf strain,” he said. “I kind of felt something in my calf. They kind of have been cautious of it because obviously the calf is a big part, especially with the injuries [around the NBA] that we had last year and things like that. So they kind of just wanted to be cautious and make sure I’m ready 100 percent.”

With Tyler Herro likely to miss the first month of the season as he recovers from left ankle surgery, Mitchell is expected to be vying for the role of day-one starter for the Heat. After playing some of the best basketball of his career down the stretch last season, he expressed frustration with being slowed down by the injury.

“Especially with the new offense we got, you kind of want to get that chemistry together to play faster,” he said. “So I kind of got a little step behind not going through the actual games with them. But I’ve been doing it in practice, so I feel good about it.”

Chiang also notes that Simone Fontecchio is participating in practice but remains limited due to left lower leg tightness. Herro and Terry Rozier are both still out without firm return dates.

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After Kel’el Ware put up a double-double in the Heat’s second preseason game, head coach Erik Spoelstra expressed that he was not moved by the big numbers and wanted the big man to focus on making a positive impact on the game. Ware wasn’t discouraged by those remaks, viewing them instead as an opportunity, writes Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel (subscriber link). “I always take anything Spo says to me as motivation,” Ware said. “I take it and I try to impact it in my game and I try to play as hard as I can.” Ware responded on Wednesday with 29 points and 12 rebounds — and most importantly, he helped the Heat outscore the Spurs by 10 when he was on the court. It was a big performance, and his coach noticed. “He put a lot of it together,” Spoelstra said. “His pick-and-roll coverages were really good, protecting the basket. He was closing out when he needed to. He rebounded the ball very well. And he was playing with force.” While Ware has a lot of skill, playing with force is a clear point of emphasis for Spoelstra. “My favorite play was when he had an opportunity to shoot a three at the top of the key and he just drove it so hard,” Spoelstra said.
Also turning in an impressive performance on Wednesday night was Jakucionis, who scored eight points and handed out 10 assists in his preseason debut after missing the first two games with a sprained wrist. It was a strong start for the 2025 first-round pick, writes Chiang. Spoelstra noted that there was already a budding chemistry between the rookie point guard and second-year big man, saying, “You can see a natural connection between him and Kel’el.” Jakucionis, for his part, knows there’s still a lot of work to do, especially in terms of scoring efficiency. “I’m just trying to be consistent, stay the same,” he said. “Discipline, and stay the same mind. Don’t go too high when I’m doing good and don’t go too low when I’m doing not that good. So I’m just trying to stay consistent, stay the same way, and just improving every day to try to get 1 percent better.“
Ware and Jakucionas were not the only recent Heat first-round picks to show out on Wednesday, Chiang writes in a separate article. Jaime Jaquez Jr., coming off a slightly disappointing sophomore season, scored 19 points on eight shots in 28 minutes. He impressed Spoelstra, who, characteristically, still wants to see more from the young forward. “He’s such a downhill force that he’s going to attract help-side defenders,” Spoelstra said. “So naturally, he has to evolve and make enough plays to keep the defense honest because we need him to be aggressive.”
Trevor Keels was recently waived in order for Miami to sign Gabe Madsen. Both players are expected to end up with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Winderman writes (subscriber link). Spoelstra spoke on the two players, both of whom showed enough for the Heat coach to take notice. “We want to continue to develop him, for sure,” Spoelstra said of Keels. “He showed a lot of improvement over the last few weeks. He’s gotten in better shape. He’s committed to our defensive system. And I told him this is just the beginning.” As for Madsen, Spoelstra saw some of the famous “Heat Culture” in the young guard. “He showed a level of grit, a competitive toughness that we like,” Spoelstra said. “And he’s also skilled. He knows how to play without the ball and shoot the ball, or drive off those catches. So we’re encouraged by that.”

Southeast Notes: Wizards, Beverley, Young, Achiuwa, Herro

September 25th, 2025 at 8:37am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Wizards’ expectations for the upcoming season remain modest. It’s all about player development and growth, not wins.

“Roster-wise, we’re still in the early stages of the rebuild,” general manager Will Dawkins told the media on Wednesday, per Chase Hughes of Monumental Sports Network (Twitter link). “This offseason we decided to lean into the youth movement more… we like the unpredictability and the competition it’s going to bring.”

Washington is coming off an 18-64 season and it’s going to be a slow climb to get back to respectability. The Wizards will have to convey their first-round pick to the Knicks if it falls out of the top eight, giving them even more incentive to keep their win total low.

“We will not skip steps,” Dawkins said, per Varun Shankar of the Washington Post. “We will not take shortcuts.”

The Wizards have 13 players under the age of 25 and they’ll battle for playing time.

“We do not have the same level of experience or established players as we’ve had in the previous [seasons], which is fine,” Dawkins said. “We do, however, have depth. And I know we like the unpredictability and the competition that we think it’s going to breed. So for us, we view the upcoming season as a season of opportunity.”

Here’s more from the Southeast Division:

Former NBA guard Patrick Beverley ripped Hawks star guard Trae Young on a podcast, stating “I’ve talked to people who played in Atlanta. They don’t wanna play there. Why? They don’t think he’s a good leader. They don’t think he’s a good teammate. You can make all the money you want. You can have all the leading assists you want. You can do all that. If you don’t win, that s— won’t matter. If you don’t win, when you retire they’re gonna forget your name.” Young offered this response, per The Athletic’s John Hollinger: “You don’t know what it’s like to be in my position, you don’t know what it’s like to put my shoes on. The numbers generate the way they do. But I promise you — there’s not a selfish bone in my body.”
Precious Achiuwa agreed to a one-year contract with the Heat. It’s a non-guaranteed deal and comes with a $2.3MM cap hit not becoming fully guaranteed until Jan. 10. The addition of Achiuwa adds some much-needed size to the Heat’s roster, joining Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware as the only centers on Miami’s standard roster, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald notes. At least in the short term, the move does not have an impact regarding Terry Rozier, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel tweets. Rozier is guaranteed $24.9MM this season on his $26.6MM salary — waiving him would bring Miami under the luxury tax.
Tyler Herro will not be ready for the start of the season after undergoing ankle surgery. How will the Heat replace him in the short term? Davion Mitchell will likely move into the starting lineup alongside offseason acquisition Norman Powell, who figures to have a prominent role offensively with Herro sidelined, according to Chiang. Pelle Larsson could see more minutes and even Rozier could force his way into the mix with a strong training camp.

Heat Notes: Arison, Training Camp, Jakucionis, Highsmith

September 6th, 2025 at 7:17pm CST by Arthur Hill

In advance of tonight’s induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Micky Arison participated in Friday’s media session and spoke about his memories from three decades as majority owner of the Heat, per Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Under Arison, who was elected in his first year as a finalist, Miami has made seven trips to the NBA Finals and captured three titles.

“I would just say I’m appreciative. It is an honor… It was never a goal,” he said of the Hall of Fame selection. “Our goal was to win championships. Was fortunate enough to win three. Our goal was to create a fantastic atmosphere in Miami. Most great NBA players, coaches it’s a goal for them. It’s never been a goal for me. Despite that, I’m extremely appreciative.”

Hall of Fame weekend marks a rare moment in the spotlight for Arison, as Jackson and Chiang note that he hasn’t spoken with beat reporters since 2013 and declined interview requests regarding his election. As his presenters, he chose Heat president Pat Riley and franchise legends Alonzo Mourning and Dwyane Wade.

“They were three key elements to our history for 30 years,” Arison said. “Pat was with me almost from the very beginning. Zo (was acquired) the first year. From there the culture was created. Dwyane Wade helped take it to the top. Obviously the greatest player in Heat history; (he has) a statue on the top steps (of Kaseya Center). I’m glad those three will be with me.”

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Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel (subscription required) previews several battles to watch when training camp opens later this month, including Kel’el Ware vs. Nikola Jovic for a potential starting spot and Tyler Herro vs. Davion Mitchell to be the crunch-time point guard. Winderman expects Andrew Wiggins and newly acquired Norman Powell to both be in the starting lineup, but coach Erik Spoelstra‘s decision on how to use them could factor into their long-term future with the team. Powell has an expiring contract, and Wiggins holds a player option for next season.
The fate of Kasparas Jakucionis is also worth keeping an eye on, Winderman adds. The first-round pick struggled during Summer League games and seemed like he might need some time in the G League, but Winderman suggests he may be able to avoid that fate with a strong showing in camp and the preseason.
Haywood Highsmith, who was traded to the Nets last month, recently offered a heartfelt farewell to the Heat organization and fans on his Instagram account. “You gave an undrafted kid from Baltimore a chance and I’m forever grateful for the journey, challenges, and growth I’ve experienced here,” he wrote. “Miami will always have a special place in my heart.”

Bam Adebayo Endorses Heat’s Roster Moves

August 2nd, 2025 at 5:11pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat haven’t won a playoff series since their surprising run to the 2023 Finals, but Bam Adebayo believes the team’s offseason moves have it headed back toward contention, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Adebayo spoke to reporters Saturday at his youth basketball clinic in Miami, marking his first public comments since the Heat were knocked out of the playoffs by Cleveland in April.

“It’s a very good shake-up for our team and now there’s a different dynamic to it,” Adebayo said.

Miami added another dynamic scorer last month by acquiring Norman Powell from the Clippers in a three-team trade. After two straight top-four finishes in the Sixth Man of the Year voting, Powell moved into L.A.’s starting lineup last season and responded with a career-high 21.8 points per game. Chiang notes that he was one of just six players who averaged at least 21 PPG while shooting better than 48% from the field and 40% from three-point range.

The Heat were able to land Powell at a bargain price, sending versatile forward Kyle Anderson, veteran big man Kevin Love and a 2027 second-round pick to Utah in the deal.

“I feel like Norman is one of those guys that floats under the radar,” Adebayo said. “But as you saw this year, he’s really shown that he can be an All-Star caliber player. You’ve seen what he’s done and you’ve seen him grow in this league. And, obviously, he wants to take the next challenge. Obviously, the next challenge is being with the Miami Heat. So I’m happy to have him.”

Miami was also able to re-sign free agent point guard Davion Mitchell, who was acquired from Toronto in February. Mitchell responded to the trade by putting up 10.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.4 steals in 30 games with Miami while shooting 50.4% from the floor and 44.7% from beyond the arc. Chiang states that he also made a difference with his aggressive defense, as the Heat gave up 3.4 fewer points per 100 possessions when he was on the court.

“Davion being back, obviously, we’ve been missing somebody that can really play on-ball defense,” Adebayo said. “And having him come in and be that guy and understand his role, I’m looking forward to him being here for a full year and all of us being together and getting to know one another and turning this into more of a brotherhood. We were kind of disconnected a little bit trying to figure out everybody’s role and trying to figure out everybody’s style of play. But now we’re going to have a good training camp and then we go from there.”

Adebayo also talked about the teammates he lost as the Heat retooled their roster. In addition to parting ways with Love and Anderson, Miami sent Duncan Robinson to Detroit in a sign-and-trade deal that brought back Simone Fontecchio.

“I’m going to miss them, obviously,” Adebayo said. “Just because Duncan has been here for eight years and having that connection was special. And then K-Love was a leader that could speak to somebody from a championship level, could obviously encourage the younger group, be an example, but also he was the bridge between some of the coaches and the players. So like I said, I’m going to miss both of them. I’m glad we had the time that we did. It was, obviously, helpful for my growth and my development as a player and as a captain.”

Heat Notes: Mitchell, Powell, Beal, Lillard, Fontecchio, Ware

July 8th, 2025 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Davion Mitchell, who re-signed with the Heat this week after playing the best basketball of his NBA career following a trade-deadline deal that sent him to Miami, said on Tuesday that the organization is “completely different” from the other NBA teams he has spent time with (Sacramento and Toronto).

“One, coach (Erik Spoelstra) is one of the greatest coaches of all time,” Mitchell said when asked what makes Miami different, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “So just learning from him, just asking questions, you won’t get any better answers from anybody else, I think. And just my teammates, my teammates wanted me here, they embraced me here, they wanted me to be myself. If I can be somewhere and be myself, I know I can be the best player I can be.”

As good as Mitchell was in during his 30 regular season games with Miami, the team struggled during those contests, posting a 10-20 record. He’s optimistic that working together this offseason will help put the Heat in a better position to open the 2025/26 season.

“It’s going to be good for me and the team, just the chemistry that we can build,” Mitchell said. “We won a couple games, we even made it to the playoffs with very little chemistry, especially with injuries and just getting traded here. So we didn’t really know how to jell with one another. I feel like we kind of figured it out a little bit (near the end of the season. But to have a training camp with one another, just to go at each other, just to learn from one another, spend time outside of basketball with each other, I think is going to build a lot of team chemistry.”

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Mitchell is excited about Miami’s addition of Norman Powell, noting that the veteran wing will bring championship experience to the team. “He’s a winning player, he plays both sides of the ball, he can score with the best of them,” Mitchell said. “He kind of does it all. Even if he’s not shooting the ball well, he can disrupt defensively. So you want guys like that on the floor that can help you win like that.”
While the acquisition of Powell makes a Bradley Beal signing a long shot, the Heat are still in play as a possible Damian Lillard landing spot, Chiang writes in another Miami Herald story. However, Chiang believes Miami’s odds would increase if Lillard waits until midway through the season or next offseason to sign his next contract.
New Heat forward Simone Fontecchio, acquired from Detroit in the Duncan Robinson sign-and-trade, is hoping to fill a similar offensive role to the one Robinson played in Miami, according to Chiang. “I watched a lot of Duncan Robinson in the last three years, because I think our skill set is pretty similar,” Fontecchio said. “Of course, he’s a tremendous shooter and he did an amazing job all the years in Miami and I was always kind of looking at him, the way he was getting off shots and I always kind of wanted to do the same thing. I think I can try to play like a little bit off handoffs, running off screens, do a little bit of that.”
Sharing his takeaways from the Heat’s second Summer League game at this week’s California Classic, Chiang writes that the team will want to see more going forward out of second-year center Kel’el Ware, who put up an underwhelming stat line of 12 points (on 4-of-10 shooting) and three rebounds in 28 minutes in Sunday’s loss to the Lakers. As we noted last week, the Heat’s coaching staff had hoped Ware would “dominate” Summer League play ahead of his second NBA season.

Davion Mitchell Re-Signs With Heat On Two-Year Deal

June 28th, 2025 at 12:53pm CST by Luke Adams

July 7: Mitchell has officially re-signed with the Heat, per the transaction log at NBA.com.

June 28: Free agent guard Davion Mitchell intends to re-sign with the Heat, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), who hears from sources that Mitchell has agreed to a two-year, $24MM contract. The deal will be fully guaranteed, Charania adds.

The ninth overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft, Mitchell spent his first three seasons in Sacramento, where he earned a reputation as a tenacious perimeter defender but struggled to provide value on offense, averaging 7.4 points and 2.8 assists in 20.4 minutes per game across 227 outings, with a .434/.327/.703 shooting line.

However, Mitchell had a solid first half in 2024/25 after being traded from Sacramento to Toronto last summer, then took his game to another level down the stretch following another trade that sent him from the Raptors to the Heat.

The 26-year-old emerged as a full-time starter in Miami, averaging 10.3 points and 5.3 assists per game with a .504/.447/.702 shooting line in 30 regular season contests for the Heat. He was even better in the postseason, making 59.3% of his field goal attempts and 52.0% of his three-pointers with averages of 15.2 PPG and 6.5 APG in six play-in and playoff outings.

Mitchell also played his usual strong defense in 2024/25. As Charania notes (via Twitter), among players to contest at least 500 shots, Mitchell ranked in the top five in opposing field goal percentage as the contesting defender, per ESPN Research.

The Heat issued an $8.74MM qualifying offer to Mitchell earlier this week, making him a restricted free agent. The Heat would have had the right to match any offer sheet he signed with a rival team, but he directly negotiated with Miami instead, opting not to test the market.

Mitchell’s new contract means the Heat will likely have to waive Duncan Robinson or negotiate a new contract with him in order to avoid crossing the luxury tax line, tweets Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

Robinson has until Sunday to make a decision on an early termination option worth $19.9MM. If he opts in for 2025/26, his salary would be guaranteed for $9.9MM, so Miami could create $10MM in cap savings by waiving him (or more than that waiving him and using the stretch provision on his partial guarantee).

Mitchell was ranked 27th on our list of this year’s top 50 free agents.

Heat Pick Up Johnson’s Option; Give QOs To Mitchell, Smith

June 24th, 2025 at 3:39pm CST by Luke Adams

The Heat have completed a series of roster moves, according to reports from Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald and Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Those moves are as follows:

Exercised their team option on Keshad Johnson ($1,955,377).
Issued a qualifying offer to Davion Mitchell ($8,741,210), making him a restricted free agent.
Issued a qualifying offer to Dru Smith (two-way), making him a restricted free agent.

Johnson, who celebrated his 24th birthday on Monday, played a limited role for the Heat as a rookie, appearing in just 16 games and logging 98 total minutes at the NBA level. However, he impressed in the G League, with averages of 17.6 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 35.1 minutes per game across 32 appearances for the Sioux Falls Skyforce. The undrafted rookie earned a promotion from his two-way contract to the standard roster in December.

While some team options remain non-guaranteed after they’re exercised, that’s not the case for Johnson, whose $1.96MM salary for 2025/26 is now fully guaranteed. He’s on track to be eligible for restricted free agency during the summer of 2026.

Mitchell, a former ninth overall pick who has always had a reputation as a tenacious defender, earned his qualifying offer by emerging as an offensive weapon during the second half of the ’24/25 season.

After being traded from Toronto to Houston, the 26-year-old averaged 10.3 points and 5.3 assists per game with a .504/.447/.702 shooting line in 30 regular season outings for the Heat. He was even better in the postseason, making 59.3% of his field goal attempts and 52.0% of his three-pointers with averages of 15.2 PPG and 6.5 APG in six play-in and playoff outings.

Mitchell, who ranks 28th on our top-50 free agent list, will have the option of accepting his $8.7MM qualifying offer, which would set him up to become an unrestricted free agent in 2026. However, he’ll likely explore a multiyear deal with the Heat or another team. If he signs an offer sheet with a rival suitor, Miami would have the opportunity to match it.

Smith had his 2024/25 cut short due to a torn Achilles, but has always been a Heat favorite and will apparently have the opportunity to return on another two-way contract. He was the only one of three Miami two-way players to receive a qualifying offer — it doesn’t appear Isaiah Stevens will get one, while Josh Christopher was ineligible for a QO.

Southeast Notes: Hornets, Mitchell, Burks, Hawks

May 30th, 2025 at 8:03pm CST by Eli Cohen

The Hornets have the ignominious honor of holding the league’s longest active playoff drought, leaving them with many questions to answer heading into the offseason, according to The Charlotte Observer’s Roderick Boone.

In a mailbag column, Boone writes that he expects the team to add more veteran presence to its young core, along the lines of last year’s Taj Gibson signing. The goal would be to help build a winning locker room culture and assist in the development of head coach Charles Lee, who himself is still learning the ropes of being an NBA veteran coach.

Boone also advises fans not to overreact if 2024 lottery pick Tidjane Salaün spends more time in the G League next year, writing that rushing his development would be a mistake and would hurt him in the long run. The sixth pick in last year’s draft averaged 5.9 points and 4.7 rebounds in 20.7 minutes per night for Charlotte, while shooting just 33.0% from the field and 28.3% from three, though he was always known to be a project who would take multiple years to be ready for major contributions.

As for roster moves, Boone says the team could use another center or power forward, especially one who can shoot. Meanwhile, Tre Mann appears to be on the road to recovery from a back injury that cut his season short and is entering restricted free agency. If he’s healthy, Boone believes that he might be more likely to sign a qualifying offer and hit the open market next year than to sign a long-term deal.

We have more from the Southeast Division:

6’4″ shooting guard V.J. Edgecombe is rumored to be a favorite for the Hornets‘ fourth overall pick in the 2025 draft if he’s still available, writes Boone. Boone points to his strong defensive pedigree as a great fit between LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller in Lee’s system, but warns that he’ll need to improve his ball-handling to become a more well-rounded offensive threat.
After a strong second half of the season following a mid-year trade to the Heat, Davion Mitchell is expected to receive an $8.7MM qualifying offer making him a restricted free agent, writes Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. However, Chiang writes that the most likely outcome is that the Heat allow another team to pursue an offer sheet with the 26-year-old defensive-minded guard before deciding how he fits into their future plans. Chiang writes that Mitchell could garner offers that approach the full mid-level exception ($14.1MM), and the Heat are only around $4MM from the luxury tax without much hope of putting together a top-tier team for next year. They are also expected to pursue as much cap space in 2026 as possible, making multiyear deals complicated.
After a career shooting year, Alec Burks is hoping to be back with the Heat next season, writes Chiang. “It was a good year. I learned a lot. Even though I’m in my 14th year, I still learned something. So I’m glad I was here,” Burks said. The soon-to-be 34-year-old started both play-in games for Miami but only appeared in Game 1 of the team’s first-round matchup with the Cavaliers. Coach Erik Spoelstra praised his ability to stay ready for whatever was asked of him, saying, “There aren’t a lot of vets that really want to accept these kinds of roles. That’s just the reality. And he is not only able to accept it, but he thrives in that role.”
The Hawks are desperately trying to move out of the middle of the pack to become a legitimate contender, writes Keith Smith of Spotrac. The front office has decisions to make regarding the free agency of longtime center Clint Capela, who was supplanted this year by Onyeka Okongwu in the starting five, as well as new acquisitions Caris LeVert and Larry Nanc e Jr., which could decide how the team’s depth looks next season. Smith writes that it would make sense for LeVert and Atlanta to come to terms on a deal in the ballpark of $12MM annually over two or three years, while the team’s ability to retain Nance may rest on what kind of outside offers he gets. Dyson Daniels and Trae Young are both extension-eligible this summer, though Smith believes it would make more sense to extend Daniels than Young, given that Young’s role in the team’s long-term plans remains uncertain. And, of course, none of this is likely to happen before the team replaces recently fired general manager Landry Fields.

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