Nikola Jovic

Injury Notes: Leonard, Jerome, Murray-Boyles, Heat, Cavs

November 20th, 2025 at 6:56pm CST by Rory Maher

Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard went through portions of Wednesday’s practice, though he didn’t do any contact drills, head coach Tyronn Lue told Law Murray of The Athletic and other media members (Twitter video link).

“He did a few things,” Lue said. ” … He’s definitely gotten better. I mean, I don’t know how long it’s gonna be (until he returns). But he’s definitely gotten better. Just seeing him on the floor yesterday was really good to see.”

Leonard, a two-time Finals MVP, was off to a strong start this fall prior to suffering right ankle and foot sprains on November 3. The Clips were 3-3 in the six games Leonard played but have gone just 1-7 without their highest-paid player. The 34-year-old missed his ninth straight game on Thursday in Orlando.

Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:

Free agent addition Ty Jerome has yet to play for the Grizzlies in 2025/26 after suffering a high-grade right calf strain during the preseason. The seventh-year guard will be reevaluated on Friday, with a return timeline expected to come in the days after that examination, tweets Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal.
Collin Murray-Boyles, the No. 9 overall pick in the 2025 draft, will miss his second straight game on Friday due to an MCL sprain in his right knee, as Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca relays (via Twitter). The Raptors forward/center has averaged 8.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in 20.0 minutes per game through 11 appearances as a rookie, with a shooting line of .500/.500/.762.
Heat forward Andrew Wiggins has been diagnosed with a left hip flexor strain and will be sidelined for his first game of the season on Friday in Chicago, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Fourth-year forward Nikola Jovic was ruled out of Wednesday’s game with a right hip impingement and will miss at least two more, as he didn’t travel with the team on its two-game road trip, Jackson reports.
While Cavaliers sharpshooter Sam Merrill will be out for the second straight contest on Friday with a right hand sprain, it’s possible point guard Darius Garland could return to action. The two-time All-Star is questionable against Indiana, per the NBA’s injury report, as are Jarrett Allen (right third finger strain) and Jaylon Tyson (concussion). Garland has missed the past five games after re-injuring his surgically repaired left great toe last week, but head coach Kenny Atkinson recently said the 25-year-old was “really close” to suiting up.

Bam Adebayo Cleared To Return For Heat

November 19th, 2025 at 4:47pm CST by Luke Adams

Heat star Bam Adebayo will return to action on Wednesday vs. Golden State, the team announced, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (Twitter link).

Adebayo has been out since November 5, having missed Miami’s past six contests due to a left big toe sprain. The team held its own in his absence, winning four of six games and registering a pair of two-point victories over the conference-rival Knicks and Cavaliers during that stretch.

In his seven healthy games this season, Adebayo averaged 22.4 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game, with a .462/.356/.861 shooting line. He was averaging 6.4 three-point attempts per night in those first seven outings, which would be a career high by far — he shot 2.8 shots threes per game in 2024/25 after attempting a total of just 104 in his first seven seasons.

Kel’el Ware has been starting at center with Adebayo out and has recorded four consecutive double-doubles, with averages of 15.0 PPG and 14.3 RPG during that stretch. Ware and Adebayo started alongside one another five times earlier in the season, so Adebayo’s return doesn’t necessarily mean that head coach Erik Spoelstra will move the second-year big man back to the bench.

Either way, Ware figures to play a significant role, since the Heat will be monitoring Adebayo’s minutes in his first game back, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (Twitter link). Additionally, while Adebayo will be backin action , the Heat won’t have a fully healthy frontcourt, as Nikola Jovic (hip) will miss Wednesday’s game, tweets Winderman.

The Heat will be taking on a shorthanded Warriors team. After previously ruling out Stephen Curry (right ankle soreness), Al Horford (left toe injury management), and Jonathan Kuminga (bilateral patellar tendonitis), Golden State has also downgraded Jimmy Butler (right low back strain) and Draymond Green (illness) to out, tweets Anthony Slater of ESPN.

Heat Notes: Jovic, Wiggins, Bam, Herro, Ware

November 14th, 2025 at 7:19pm CST by Rory Maher

Head coach Erik Spoelstra says the Heat are urging Nikola Jovic to take a more consistently professional approach so he can produce on a regular basis, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Jovic, who signed a four-year, $62.4MM rookie scale extension before the season began, has been plagued by bouts of inconsistency throughout his career. That has remained true in 2025/26 as well, with the 22-year-old forward having a couple excellent all-around performances mixed in with some forgettable showings.

“When he plays with a force of will and an intention, it’s always starting with him, and an approach every day, to approach a practice day and a shootaround and a film session like it’s really important,” Spoelstra said. “He’s made improvements with that. It’s still not where it needs to be, because he’s young and doesn’t see that it’s always important. But he’s getting there.

“And then it’s a matter of consistency. But you can see the possibilities when he has that intention and things are important to him.”

Here’s more on the Heat:

With Bam Adebayo sidelined due to a toe sprain, Miami has been starting Andrew Wiggins at power forward, with Jovic used as a small-ball center off the bench. Neither player has any complaints about his current role, according to Winderman. “I mean, it doesn’t matter to me too much,” said Wiggins. “As long as I can be out there competing, I just take on that competitive challenge. I’ve got to guard a bigger guy, so I’ve got to bring it. I’ve got to bring my physicality out, bring my competitive nature out, and take on that challenge.”
Adebayo and Tyler Herro made the trip to New York for Friday’s contest against the Knicks, but both players will remain sidelined, per Winderman. Adebayo will miss his fifth straight game, while Herro has yet to make his season debut after undergoing left ankle surgery in the offseason. As Winderman observes, the Heat announced when Herro had surgery that the All-Star guard was expected to miss around eight weeks — Friday marks eight weeks since that statement was issued.
While Adebayo isn’t expected to miss a significant chunk of time with his injury, there’s still no official timetable for the three-time All-Star’s return, Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald states in mailbag. Chiang believes Kel’el Ware will likely move back to the bench when Adebayo resumes playing.

Heat Notes: Jaquez, Powell, Up-Tempo Approach, Jovic

November 9th, 2025 at 10:00am CST by Arthur Hill

Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Norman Powell both played through injuries on Saturday as the Heat picked up a win over Portland, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Miami was already short-handed with Bam Adebayo missing his second straight game due to a sprained big toe and Tyler Herro still recovering from offseason ankle surgery, so Jaquez and Powell were both needed despite suffering sprained ankles on Friday. Jaquez wound up with 14 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists in 29 minutes, while Powell contributed 22 points, two rebounds and three assists in 30 minutes.

“Jaime at three o’clock was not cleared to play,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I mentioned that to the team, and he put himself out there. He spent three hours just trying to get his ankle ready. He even skipped the walkthrough just to continue to get treatment. And then he got cleared after that, gave us everything he had.”

After regressing during his second NBA season, Jaquez has emerged as one of the early favorites for Sixth Man of the Year honors, according to Chiang. He ranked third in the league in points off the bench entering Saturday’s game and has become one of the leaders of a potent reserve unit.

“We want to really take pride in being that energy booster for our team,” Jaquez said. “And so when we see the first unit, whether they’re going good or things are going slow, regardless, we want to just take that energy up to that next level.”

There’s more from Miami:

The Heat and Trail Blazers combined for 267 points in a battle of the league’s two fastest-paced teams, Chiang states in the same story. Spoelstra introduced the up-tempo style during training camp and believes his players have done a good job adapting to it. “Obviously, our guys are getting pretty comfortable with it,” he said. “Embracing the unknown, that was the first thing from media day. And both teams were attacking. This was a heck of a basketball game.”
Nikola Jovic has been through an up-and-down start to the season, so it was encouraging to see him produce 29 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals on Saturday. The Heat are counting on the young forward to be part of their foundation after giving him a four-year, $62.4MM extension last month. “I would have lied if I said that the last two weeks were easy because I felt like everything I did was wrong, and I was not helping this team at all,” Jovic tells Chiang in a separate story. “And I want to thank the coaches and everybody from the team for supporting me and letting me know that I’m important for the team. But my head just wasn’t there. I didn’t know how to help the team.”
With the Heat preparing to host the Cavaliers on Monday and Wednesday, Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel looks at how the playoff sweep last spring revealed the need for change. Spoelstra was humiliated by the defeat, particularly in the two home games, which Miami lost by 37 and 53 points. “We were done at the end of April, and it was a very painful, embarrassing first-round loss,” Spoelstra said. “We had done a lot emotionally to earn that ticket to get into the playoffs, and we felt really proud about that, back-to-back (play-in) games on the road to earn that ticket. And it was just — it was embarrassing. And you had to credit Cleveland with that.”

Heat Notes: Powell, Jovic, Ware, Johnson

October 7th, 2025 at 12:43pm CST by Luke Adams

Before he was traded from the Clippers to the Heat this summer, Norman Powell had begun having conversations with L.A. about a possible contract extension, he tells Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (subscription required).

“To be transparent, we were talking extension and what it would look like, and they were telling me they didn’t want to trade me, they wanted me there — all that good stuff,” Powell said. “But they inevitably ended up trading me.”

A report last month indicated that the Heat are open to discussing an extension with Powell, who is entering the final year of his current contract. However, that report suggested any deal would likely happen during the season, once the club had more time to assess his fit on the roster. For his part, the 32-year-old guard says he’s thinking about “basketball” rather than his contract situation, as Winderman relays.

“I’m just focused on what I have to do for this team, and I know if I go out there and perform, you’re going to be rewarded,” Powell said. “I feel like I’ve been performing every single year and my trajectory is just focused on getting better and how I can improve, and the payday will come.”

If Powell can carry over performances like Monday’s into the regular season, it would bode well for his future earnings. In just 16 minutes of action in Miami’s preseason matchup with Milwaukee, he racked up 18 points, making 6-of-12 shots from the floor, including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.

“You can see his ignitability.” Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said after the game, according to Winderman. “I like what he can do on the drive. He can really get hot from three. Guys were finding him. I think we can definitely build on that.”

Here’s more on the Heat:

Nikola Jovic‘s four-year rookie scale extension with the Heat starts at $16,200,000 in 2026/27 before dipping to $14,904,000 in ’27/28, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. The third year of the deal is worth $15,096,000 and then it rises back up to $16,200,000 in year four (’29/30). The structure will give the team some added cap flexibility during the 2027 and 2028 offseasons and suggests that creating cap room in 2026 probably isn’t a goal.
Jovic got a second consecutive start in Monday’s preseason game against the Bucks, while center Kel’el Ware, who finished last season as a starter, has yet to play alongside Bam Adebayo this month, notes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
Ware put up big numbers off the bench against Milwaukee, scoring 18 points and grabbing 13 rebounds, but he turned the ball over four times and was a -21 on the night. After the game, Spoelstra was more focused on the latter numbers. “I think everybody is looking at the wrong thing,” he said of Ware’s double-double, per Chiang. “It’s got to impact the game. I want him the next game to be a plus-20. That’s what it’s about. … It does not matter if you have 18 and 13 if it’s not impacting the game. … That’s part of being a young player, and that’s why I enjoy coaching him because my responsibility is to help teach him how to connect the dots and become more consistent where it now leads to winning.”
The Heat raised eyebrows early in the offseason when they picked up Keshad Johnson‘s guaranteed team option for 2025/26 after he logged just 98 total minutes as a rookie. Now, Johnson says he’s determined to reward the club for its faith in him, as Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald writes. “That shows they were [willing to] bet on me,” Johnson said. “If they bet on me, I’ve got to prove them right.” Johnson added that he’s willing to play either on the wing or in the frontcourt, depending on what the coaching staff asks of him. “Whether I’m undersized or not, I can compete with anybody,” the 6’6″ forward said of potentially playing in the frontcourt.

Heat Notes: Wiggins, Jovic, Ware, Smith

October 5th, 2025 at 1:47pm CST by Luke Adams

In the wake of the trade sending him from Golden State to Miami last winter, Andrew Wiggins struggled to get acclimated to his new NBA home, dealing with a series of minor injuries down the stretch as the Heat adjusted to life without Jimmy Butler. According to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald, Wiggins brought his family to live with him in Miami this offseason and spent the summer getting more comfortable in South Florida — now he’s hoping that comfort level translates to the court.

“When I first got here, it was more so just trying to get situated,” Wiggins said. “I’m in a new situation, new players, new coaches, new systems. Just trying to find my spots and get situated within the team. Now, just getting a summer under my belt, being at the facility almost every day, being with the team, the coaches, any chance to build up that chemistry and be comfortable with the team and with what we have going on.

“… My family definitely makes me a happier person,” he added. “I love being around them. Just being here in Miami with my family has been the perfect spot for me.”

As Chiang writes, Wiggins had a strong training camp and got off to a good start in the Heat’s preseason opener vs. Orlando on Saturday, scoring 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting in 12 minutes of action. Head coach Erik Spoelstra is optimistic about what the former No. 1 overall pick will be able to bring to the Heat after spending the full offseason with the team.

“I do like this opportunity that he’s had in late July, August, September to really prepare,” Spoelstra said. “He was in the gym, so we were able to see him a whole lot more, get to know each other more. He’s in very good shape. He’s feeling comfortable with what we’re trying to do. He has an opportunity to be such an impactful two-way player, both ends of the court.”

Here’s more on the Heat:

Nikola Jovic earned the start alongside Bam Adebayo in the Heat’s frontcourt on Saturday, with Kel’el Ware coming off the bench. That was a notable decision, Chiang observes for The Herald, since Ware started in 36 of his final 38 regular season games in 2024/25, plus all four of Miami’s playoff games. As Chiang points out, lineups featuring Ware and Adebayo outscored opponents by 4.6 points per 100 possessions last season, whereas Jovic was removed from the starting lineup early in the season due to underwhelming results.
Jovic, who signed a rookie scale extension ahead of Miami’s preseason opener, played well on Saturday, scoring 10 points in 12 minutes while also chipping in three rebounds, a pair of assists, and a block. Spoelstra expressed enthusiasm about Jovic’s potential to continue establishing himself as a long-term building block for the club. “We’re really excited for Niko,” the Heat coach said, per Chiang. “It’s been a fun process to see his maturation and improvement, learning how to become a professional. We drafted him at such a young age and then you’re seeing him grow and mature right before your eyes. He’s earned this. He’s put in a great deal of work.”
Roughly nine-and-a-half months after tearing his left Achilles, Dru Smith was back on the court for the Heat on Saturday vs. Orlando, notes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (subscription required). It’s typically an injury that requires upwards of a full calendar year of recovery time, but Smith showed no ill effects in his return, registering a team-high +11 mark in 10 minutes on the court. He’s “very much in the mix” for a regular season rotation role, says Winderman.

Southeast Notes: Kalkbrenner, Miller, Jovic, Middleton

October 4th, 2025 at 1:35pm CST by Dana Gauruder

There’s competition for the center spot on the Hornets’ roster and rookie second-rounder Ryan Kalkbrenner is making a strong bid to be part of the rotation, writes Rod Boone of the Charlotte Observer (subscription required).

The 34th pick of the draft is a seasoned Big East veteran out of Creighton and he’s making a strong impression during training camp.

“His basketball IQ stands out to me, his competitiveness stands out to me and I think his willingness to keep it simple stands out to me,” coach Charles Lee said. “I think that he’s in the right positions a lot of times because he’s willing to do whatever it takes to kind of help his teammates defensively and offensively. And so he’s been phenomenal — as have all the rookies. But he’s stood out.”

Kalkbrenner has been encouraged by the atmosphere during the first week of camp.

“It’s been great,” Kalkbrenner said. “I was thinking about this as we were wrapping up practice. As you go through this draft process, you don’t know what team you’re going to end up with, how the guys are going to be. And I couldn’t be happier with the group I’m with. Come in every day — I don’t always know what I’m doing, but they’ve been so helpful in helping me get better and improve. And I’m feeling much more comfortable because of that. So, it’s been great.”

We have more from the Southeast Division:

Hornets forward Brandon Miller missed a good chunk of last season due to a wrist injury. Miller, still just 22 and entering his third season, can not only be a future All-Star but a legacy player, in executive VP of basketball operations Jeff Peterson‘s estimation. “I don’t want to put a cap or a ceiling on him because Brandon can be as good as he wants to be. He can be a Hall of Famer,” Peterson said, per Langston Wertz Jr. of the Charlotte Observer. “And he knows the expectations on him this season. More importantly, he has those same expectations for himself.”
Heat forward Nikola Jovic has appeared in exactly 46 games in each of the last two seasons. Jovic also missed most of his rookie season with a back injury. He has dealt with hamstring, ankle, hand and nasal injuries the past two seasons but Jovic, who signed a four-year extension this week, disputes the notion he’s injury-prone, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald writes. “I broke my foot [when I] stepped on someone,” he said. “I broke my nose [when] someone elbowed me. I broke my hand because someone hit my hand. What was I supposed to do? If someone hits you, I can’t talk to my bone and tell it to not break. Hopefully, I’m preparing my body for the whole season and play as many games as I can.”
Wizards wing Khris Middleton is an anomaly on a roster filled with young players trying to prove their worth. That makes him an essential piece — a veteran those players can lean on for advice and guidance, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic. “These guys are eager to play, and that’s what basketball players want to be around, people that are energetic, happy about playing basketball, being around basketball,” Middleton said. “That’s what I love about this group. They’re all young. They’re all learning. I just want to help guide them on their way. I don’t want to necessarily overstep and try to be the ‘super vet.’ I want to give them room and a path to let them grow and find their own journey, like my own vets did with me.”

Heat Sign Nikola Jovic To Four-Year Extension

October 3rd, 2025 at 7:11pm CST by Arthur Hill

Oct. 3: Jovic’s four-year extension with the Heat is now official, per the team’s Twitter account.

Oct 1: Nikola Jovic has agreed to a four-year, $62.4MM rookie scale extension with the Heat, agents Jeff Schwartz, Sean Kennedy and Jared Mucha of Excel Sports Management tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). It’s a straight four-year deal with no option for either the team or the player, a source informs Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel (Twitter link).

The 22-year-old power forward is coming off his best statistical season — averaging 10.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 45.6% from the field and 37.1% from three-point range — but he was limited to 46 appearances after breaking a bone in his right hand in February. He was able to return for the playoff series against Cleveland and scored 24 points in Game 4, Charania states in a full story.

Jovic was primarily used off the bench last season, starting just 10 games after making 38 starts the year before. He said at Monday’s media day that he hopes to have a chance to compete for a starting role in training camp.

Jovic will make $4.4MM this season in the final year of his rookie contract. The extension will run through the 2029/30 season, and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald notes that he’s currently the team’s only player who’s under contract past ’28/29.

The Heat selected Jovic with the 27th pick in the 2022 draft, but he battled injuries as a rookie and only appeared in 15 games. His role has expanded over the past two seasons, and the extension appears to cement his status as part of the team’s foundation moving forward.

Jovic is the fifth member of the 2022 draft class to receive an extension, joining Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren, Jabari Smith Jr. and Jalen Williams, as our tracker shows. Teams have until October 20, the day before the start of the regular season, to finalize rookie scale extensions. Players who don’t receive them will become restricted free agents next summer if their teams extend qualifying offers.

As Winderman recently noted, Miami also has important extension decisions upcoming with Tyler Herro and Norman Powell that will determine the team’s financial flexibility for at least the rest of the decade.

Heat Notes: Jovic, Jakucionis, Rozier, Ware, Dragic, More

October 2nd, 2025 at 3:10pm CST by Rory Maher

The contract is not yet official, but Heat forward Nikola Jovic couldn’t contain his excitement regarding his new four-year, $62.4MM rookie scale extension after Thursday’s practice, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.

“I feel good,” Jovic said. “I feel good. I’m blessed and everything. Still talking to my agent, you know, progress is being made. Haven’t signed anything officially, but hopefully we’ll get there soon. I’m happy that this ownership and organization sees the talent and sees the work I put in. And I’ll make sure to give my everything to make this contract worth a lot more.”

“It just shows they respect me and they want me here,” Jovic added, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. “So I got a little extra boost knowing that I can show what I can do. As simple as that. I’m still going to do my thing and try to be the best player as possible.”

Jovic, a 22-year-old from Serbia, was selected 27th overall in the 2022 draft. He says he appreciated key members of the team coming to visit him this summer as he prepared for EuroBasket 2025, Chiang notes.

“I felt like last year before I got injured, I really felt like I can help this team win,” Jovic said. “From there, even after the injury, I felt like they knew what I bring. They know what I can bring to the table and how I can help this team win. And [Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and assistant general manager Adam Simon] coming to Serbia [this past summer] and seeing me and meeting my family and everything, I felt really like a part of the family.”

Here’s more on the Heat:

2025 first-round pick Kasparas Jakucionis was sidelined during Thursday’s practice due to a left wrist sprain, Chiang adds. An MRI on the wrist was negative. The Heat believe the Lithuanian guard won’t be sidelined for very long, according to Chiang.
Veteran guard Terry Rozier was another player who was held out Thursday. He suffered a left hamstring strain on Tuesday but expects to be back next week, tweets Winderman. Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press has also heard the injury isn’t expected to be serious (Twitter link).
Miami has high expectations for Kel’el Ware and the team has been pushing him hard in his second training camp, according to Chiang. Spoelstra, who was critical of Ware at the start of Summer League, has said the the 21-year-old won’t be handed a starting job but he enjoys working with the second-year center. “Despite what people think my tenor is with him or whatever, I really enjoy coaching Kel’el,” Spoelstra said. “He’s a young player, and he’s learning our standards and learning the head coach’s standards of approaching every single day to strive for excellence and not accept anything less than that. And then you stack a bunch of days up like that, then eventually as a young player you start to learn how, oh, that impacts winning. Is he there yet? No. Does he show signs of that? Yes. Because he does really care. He cares about it. He’s learning it, and that’s OK for a young player.”
Former Heat guard Goran Dragic is expected to rejoin the organization in a formal capacity at some point in the future, Chiang writes in a third story. Dragic’s specific role has yet to be determined — he was working with Jakucionis during Tuesday’s practice before flying home to Europe on Wednesday. “I just like having him around,” Spoelstra said. “He’s not just exclusively working with Kas. He has great experience. Everybody respects him. He has a great way of communicating to guys. I think he just naturally fits a mentorship role. But he can also add value to scouting and other areas. I think we’ll be able to make, hopefully, something work for both sides.”
The Heat will have virtually no cap space next summer if Andrew Wiggins exercises his $30.2MM player option for 2026/27, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Jovic’s impending extension didn’t impact that projection much since his cap hold would have been similar to the first year of his new deal, which starts in 2026.

Heat Notes: Herro, Jovic, Smith, Powell, Ware, Rozier

September 29th, 2025 at 10:48am CST by Dana Gauruder

Heat guard Tyler Herro suggested on Monday that his return from ankle surgery could take longer than initial projections, according to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel. Herro underwent surgery this month to alleviate posterior impingement syndrome in his left ankle with the expectation he’d miss about eight weeks.

Herro, who said he couldn’t even jump due to the ankle pain prior to surgery, said the rehab process could go a little longer.

“I’ll be back in the next eight to 12 weeks,” Herro said. “Should be a full recovery. Right now, I’m ahead of schedule as far as the swelling. I should get the stitches out in the next week.”

However, Herro told coach Erik Spoelstra that he’ll try to return on a more accelerated timetable.

“I told Spo that I’ll be back in six weeks,” Herro said. “I’m ahead of schedule.”

Here’s more from the Heat during their annual media day:

Nikola Jovic is one of the Heat players who is extension-eligible this preseason with an Oct. 20 deadline. He downplayed extension talks on Monday, Winderman tweets. Winderman speculated last week that a contract in the range of $50-60MM over four years could appeal to both sides. Jovic added that he hopes to get a chance to earn a starting job during training camp, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald tweets.
Dru Smith, who was signed to a three-year deal in August, said he’s been cleared to play in preseason games, according to Jackson. Smith suffered an Achilles tear in December.
The addition of veteran forward and proven scorer Norman Powell via trade in July came as a pleasant surprise to Spoelstra, according to Jackson and Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “We’re excited to have Norm with us, his ability to put the ball in the basket. He can do it on the ball, can do it off the ball,” the coach said. “He’s been able to be efficient in a lot of different roles. He’s been part of a lot of winning teams. He’s a competitive dude, has got an edge to him. His work ethic is tremendous. We will thrilled [to get him]. There were a lot of things we planned to do this summer; that one was a little bit of a surprise.”
Second-year big man Kel’el Ware won’t be handed the starting center job. “He and Bam (Adebayo) had some good moments together. In the playoffs, it wasn’t good,” Spoelstra said. “He’s positioning himself for an important role. He’ll have to prove it; he will have to earn it.”
Terry Rozier, whose status with the team this season remains up in the air, has been preparing for the season in Miami, according to Spoelstra. “Terry has been in the gym since the middle of July,” he said. “He is in great shape, lost 10, 12 pounds. He was playing pickup anywhere he could in Miami [this summer].”
Rozier said the FBI investigation regarding suspicious bets when he played for Charlotte weighed on him initially, but is no longer a concern, according to Jackson (Twitter link). He declined to say what his attorney has told him about where that investigation stands. The NBA found no wrongdoing in its own investigation.

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