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Eastern Notes: Irving, Arcidiacono, Butler, Martin, Wizards

September 19th, 2022 at 10:40pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kyrie Irving sees a silver lining in the sour way the Nets’ season ended. Irving said on the “Nets Kingdom” podcast that Brooklyn “needed” to go through the embarrassment of getting swept in the playoffs (hat tip to Kurt Helin of NBC Sports).

“It was meant to happen like that. Motivation, bro,” the Nets guard said. “We needed that humbling experience, especially going against the Celtics. It was already built to be that matchup. We’re going to see them again.”

We have more from around the Eastern Conference:

  • Ryan Arcidiacono’s contract with the Knicks is a standard, non-guaranteed minimum for one year, and doesn’t include an Exhibit 10 clause, Fred Katz of The Athletic tweets. The Knicks signed the 28-year-old guard on Saturday. He appeared in 10 games with the Knicks last season.
  • A couple of scouts interviewed by Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald believe Jimmy Butler is the best option as the starting power forward for the Heat with Caleb Martin coming off the bench. However, there are concerns about Butler wearing down by playing that position.
  • The Wizards aren’t likely to sign a player to their open two-way slot until the end of training camp, Josh Robbins of The Athletic tweets.  Team officials would prefer to see how potential candidates perform in the preseason and whether there’s a better option on the waiver wire. Jordan Schakel has the other two-way spot.
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Heat Notes: Oladipo, Martin, Salary Cap, Butler

September 11th, 2022 at 1:50pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Heat are investing $15MM+ this season in Victor Oladipo and Caleb Martin in the hopes that both players can build on their encouraging 2021/22 runs. While Miami is certainly hoping guard Oladipo can get closer to his pre-injury All-Star heights this season, and that the 6’5″ Caleb Martin can convincingly play significant minutes as the team’s power forward, the team has a variety of other options to pick up the slack on its roster if neither scenario comes to pass, writes Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

As Winderman observes, guards Kyle Lowry, Tyler Herro, and Gabe Vincent make up a threatening backcourt rotation with or without Oladipo stepping up, and 6’7″ small forward Jimmy Butler will most likely at least finish games as Miami’s power forward.

There’s more out of South Beach:

  • On the heels of the news that the league’s salary cap is on track to increase over $10MM to a projected $134MM for 2023/24, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald notes that the Heat still won’t have much flexibility to add new players, given the $132.4MM Miami has locked in for just its five best players with guaranteed deals that season. Assuming Herro reaches a contract extension agreement with the club and a few other contracts remain on the team’s books, the club could quite possibly exceed the expected $162MM tax threshold in 2023/24, according to Jackson, who opines that the best way for Miami to make upgrades will be through trades, not free agency.
  • Butler was awarded a 93 overall player rating, the ninth-best among all players in the new video game NBA 2K23, writes Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Winderman notes that Butler’s score ties him with fellow All-Stars Jayson Tatum and Ja Morant.
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Heat Notes: Morris, PF Options, Herro, Haslem

August 31st, 2022 at 5:15pm CST by Arthur Hill

The departure of Markieff Morris, who agreed to a deal with the Nets on Tuesday, means the Heat‘s revolving door at power forward will continue, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Morris and P.J. Tucker, who were free agent additions last summer, both signed elsewhere during the offseason. Winderman notes that Miami has been through eight power forwards since Bam Adebayo became the starting center in 2019/20.

Morris’ departure was virtually assured when Udonis Haslem announced last week that he was returning for a 20th season, Winderman adds. Miami will keep one roster spot open due to luxury tax concerns, so there was no room for Morris once fellow free agents Caleb Martin, Victor Oladipo and Dewayne Dedmon all reached new deals.

Martin, who is expected to replace Tucker as the starting power forward, re-signed with Miami for its full taxpayer mid-level exception and will receive $20.4MM over the next three years. He was reportedly about to get a better offer from a rival team, but he preferred to remain with the Heat. Winderman points out that if Tucker had taken the MLE, Miami’s starting point on a new deal with Martin would have been limited to the $4.1MM bi-annual exception.

There’s more on the Heat:

  • Utah’s Bojan Bogdanovic and Atlanta’s John Collins are players to watch if the Heat decide to trade for a power forward, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. The Jazz haven’t expressed a desire to part with Bogdanovic, but he has a $19.5MM expiring contract and could become expendable if Utah commits to rebuilding. The Hawks have explored the trade market for Collins, but he has an expensive contract that pays him more than $75MM over the next three seasons, along with a $26.6MM player option for 2025/26. Jackson doesn’t believe Miami should give up a first-round pick for either player.
  • The Knicks’ extension agreement with RJ Barrett is likely to be similar to what the Heat offer Tyler Herro if he’s not traded, Winderman adds in a separate piece. Herro is eligible for a five-year max extension worth up to $188MM, but Winderman expects his final deal to be more in line with Barrett, whose four-year deal can be worth up to $120MM if he earns several bonuses.
  • Suns star Chris Paul supports Haslem’s decision to play another season, per Joseph Zucker of Bleacher Report. “You all saw that stuff with Udonis Haslem? Y’all heard everyone talking crazy about him like, ‘Why he on the team? Why he on the team?’ Man, I’m probably his biggest fan,” Paul said to a group of high school players in Los Angeles (video link). “You want to know why? Because young guys need vets. They need somebody like UD showing up every day, if practice at 11:00, he’s probably at the gym at 8:30 every day. To motivate guys. To push guys.”
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Heat Notes: Adebayo, Martin, Jovic, Herro

July 27th, 2022 at 5:28pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat‘s reluctance to part with Bam Adebayo has effectively taken them out of the Kevin Durant sweepstakes, at least for now, sources tell Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Miami could decide to revisit a potential Durant swap later on if something changes, but for now the team plans to move forward with its current roster.

According to the authors’ sources, the Nets haven’t shown much interest in the Heat’s trade offers, which haven’t included Adebayo or Jimmy Butler. That means any deal would likely have to be built around Tyler Herro and draft assets. Miami can currently offer two unprotected first-round picks and as many as three pick swaps. The team could free up another first-rounder by negotiating with the Thunder to lift lottery protections on the 2025 pick owed to OKC.

Another hurdle is that Adebayo is ineligible to be dealt to Brooklyn as long as Ben Simmons remains on the roster because of the designated rookie extension rule. Even if the Heat change their minds about moving Adebayo, a third team would have to be found to take Simmons in order for the deal to work.

There’s more from Miami:

  • The Heat plan to have Caleb Martin take over the role of P.J. Tucker, who signed with the Sixers in free agency, Jackson and Chiang add. Martin only played 22% of his minutes at power forward last season, but the organization is willing to see how he can handle the position before exploring a trade.
  • First-round pick Nikola Jovic has received an invitation to try out for the Serbian national team ahead of EuroBasket 2022, Chiang writes in a separate story. Summer League was challenging for the 19-year-old, who had up-and-down performances and dealt with a quad contusion. “I’m still learning,” he said. “I just need a little time.”
  • The Heat say they’re content with the current roster, but the offseason moves shouldn’t be considered complete until they reach a contract extension with Herro, says Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. Herro would become almost untradeable for the rest of the season once an extension is in place due to the “poison pill provision.” That would virtually eliminate any chance for a significant trade to acquire Durant or Donovan Mitchell.
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Heat Notes: Martin, Durant, Two-Ways, 2023 Cap

July 13th, 2022 at 3:09pm CST by Luke Adams

Before Caleb Martin re-signed with the Heat, he drew interest from another team that was preparing to give him an offer sheet which would’ve exceeded the three-year, $20.4MM deal he received from Miami, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Martin spoke several weeks ago about wanting to remain with the Heat and ultimately stuck to that stance, accepting a deal that used up the taxpayer portion of the team’s mid-level exception.

“There were options, for sure,” Martin said. “But I just kind of laid back and just waited to see what would happen. Obviously my first priority was wanting to stay (with the Heat). So that’s my biggest thing, is I wanted to stay here. But obviously I had to keep all options open and see what the best option was and the financial situation.”

With P.J. Tucker and Markieff Morris no longer in the picture in Miami, Martin will likely be asked to play more minutes at power forward in 2022/23. He said this week that he doesn’t have any problem with that assignment and plans to “bulk up” this offseason to prepare to match up against stronger players.

“I think that’s part of being versatile, is me being able to do something like that,” Martin said. “You could sit here and say that I’m not a four or a wing or whatever, but I think I’m a basketball player and I adjust to any position. So if the guys need me to play the four, it might look a little bit different. But I’m going to get the job done and I’m going to learn the things I need to pick up on.”

Here’s more on the Heat:

  • A league source tells Chiang and Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald that initial discussions between the Heat and Nets about a possible Kevin Durant trade were “hot and heavy,” but those talks cooled off when Brooklyn wasn’t satisfied with Miami’s package.
  • At least one of the Heat’s current two-way players (Mychal Mulder and Javonte Smart) seems likely to be replaced before the season begins, according to Jackson and Chiang, who say the team may be eyeing a power forward to fill a two-way slot.
  • Addressing the Heat’s free agent moves during a radio appearance on 790 The Ticket, general manager Andy Elisburg said the team recognized it was “unrealistic” to bring back all its free agents due to various Bird rights limitations, but was happy to re-sign Martin, Victor Oladipo, and Dewayne Dedmon. “We hoped to bring back at least one, but certainly two or three of our guys,” Elisburg said, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. “And so, being able to do that, is great.”
  • In a separate story for The Sun Sentinel, Winderman looks ahead to the Heat’s 2023 cap situation, noting that the team already projects to be over the cap and could reduce its flexibility further if Tyler Herro signs a lucrative new extension.
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Contract Details: Drummond, Jones, LaVine, Cancar, Martin, Nurkic

July 9th, 2022 at 2:20pm CST by Luke Adams

The two-year contracts that Andre Drummond and Derrick Jones signed with the Bulls have virtually identical terms. Both players will earn guaranteed $3.2MM salaries in 2022/23, with $3.36MM player options for the ’23/24 season, Hoops Rumors has learned. The only real difference between the two deals is how the Bulls completed them — Drummond received a portion of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, while Jones was re-signed using his Non-Bird rights.

Here are more details on recently signed contracts from around the NBA:

  • Zach LaVine‘s five-year, maximum-salary contract with the Bulls includes a 15% trade kicker, Hoops Rumors has learned. For 2022/23, at least, that kicker will be inconsequential since LaVine is already earning the max, but it could be a factor later in his deal if the annual salary cap increases outpace his annual 8% raises.
  • Vlatko Cancar‘s three-year contract with the Nuggets features matching $2,234,359 cap hits in each of the first two seasons, plus a $2,346,606 team option for 2024/25. The first two years are guaranteed.
  • Heat forward Caleb Martin received a starting salary of $6,479,000, which is the full portion of the taxpayer mid-level exception. Miami remains below the tax apron, so the team can use the rest of the non-taxpayer MLE (approximately $4MM more) if it so chooses. Martin also got a third-year player option and a 15% trade kicker on his new three-year deal.
  • Jusuf Nurkic‘s four-year, $70MM contract with the Trail Blazers is fully guaranteed and is structured with standard 8% annual raises. It starts at $15,625,000 in 2022/23 and increases to $19,375,000 by year four in ’25/26.
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Heat Re-Sign Caleb Martin To Three-Year Deal

July 6th, 2022 at 9:25pm CST by Rory Maher

9:25pm: The Heat have officially re-signed Martin, the team announced in a press release.

“Caleb is a multi-position player with tremendous energy that had a career year with us,” Heat president Pat Riley said in a statement. “He works hard and deserves this as much as any young player in the league. We are extremely happy he has decided to come back.”

11:26am: One of the NBA’s top remaining restricted free agents is coming off the board, according to Anthony Chiang, who reports (via Twitter) that the Heat and forward Caleb Martin are in agreement on a three-year contract worth “about” $20.5MM.

The Heat only held Martin’s Non-Bird rights entering this offseason, limiting their ability to offer him much of a raise after he finished the 2021/22 season on a minimum-salary contract. The terms reported by Chiang indicate that Miami will use the taxpayer portion of its mid-level exception to re-sign Martin and ensure that he gets a substantial pay bump.

As our breakdown of this season’s MLE values shows, a three-year deal worth the full taxpayer mid-level exception would top out at about $20.4MM. Martin’s deal will be fully guaranteed, sources tell Chiang (Twitter link).

Martin emerged as an important piece off the bench in Miami this past season, averaging 9.2 PPG and 3.8 RPG on .507/.413/.763 shooting in 60 games (22.9 MPG), which earned him a promotion from his two-way contract. He opted to just have his two-way deal converted into a rest-of-season contract rather than negotiating a multiyear deal, perhaps recognizing that he’d have a better chance of securing a raise in the offseason than he would have in February.

It turned out to be shrewd move by Martin and his representatives, as the $20.4MM in guaranteed money dwarfs his career earnings to this point. With P.J. Tucker‘s departure to Philadelphia, the 26-year-old Martin could be in line for a bigger role with the Heat in 2022/23.

As John Hollinger of The Athletic observes (via Twitter), signing Martin at the taxpayer mid-level exception likely means Miami will fill out the remainder of its roster with minimum-salary players in order to stay below the tax apron and maintain financial flexibility.

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Southeast Notes: Heat, Martin, Hampton, Banchero

July 4th, 2022 at 10:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Heat lost P.J. Tucker to the Sixers and reached agreements with Victor Oladipo and Dewayne Dedmon but they still have some unfinished offseason business, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel writes.

Restricted free agent Caleb Martin remains unsigned but since the Heat do not have his Bird Rights, they are unable to match offers above the $10.49MM mid-level exception. They are not likely to go above the $6.5MM taxpayer mid-level exception, since that would trigger a hard salary cap. They also have to decide whether to bring back Markieff Morris.

They have both the mid-level and bi-annual exceptions at their disposal to pursue other free agents, but using the bi-annual would also result in a hard cap.

We have more from the Southeast Division:

  • Martin’s restricted free agency buys the Heat a little more time to wait out the Kevin Durant saga while keeping Martin as an option, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald notes. Even if Martin receives an offer sheet in the first day of free agency on Wednesday, the Heat have two days to decide whether to match it.
  • R.J. Hampton has impressed the Magic brass by his willingness to play in the Summer League, according to Khobi Price of the Orlando Sentinel. Hampton wanted to play despite appearing in 64 games during his second NBA season. “I only got to play one summer league,” Hampton said. “It’s a great opportunity for me to get run and get extra reps.”
  • Top pick Paolo Banchero has been displaying his strength in summer league practices, Price tweets. “He’s a very strong individual. I don’t think he even understands how strong he really is,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said of the former Duke forward. “That’s the great part of his willingness to learn and ask questions, that he’s going to find out how he can use his body in different ways to obviously punish defenses but then defensively, how to guard multiple positions.”
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Otto Porter, Gary Harris, T.J. Warren Among Lakers’ Potential FA Targets

June 30th, 2022 at 8:50am CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers‘ options on the free agent market this week will likely be limited, since the team will only be able to offer the $6.5MM taxpayer mid-level exception or a minimum-salary contract to potential targets. However, as Jovan Buha of The Athletic writes, the team will still aim high, hoping to sell players on the opportunity to start and the ability to increase their stock with a strong year in Los Angeles, like Malik Monk did in 2021/22.

According to Buha, youth, length, athleticism, and shooting are among the traits the Lakers will be prioritizing. Two-way wings who could come in and potentially start alongside Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and Russell Westbrook will be a priority, sources tell The Athletic.

Here are some details on the types of players the Lakers will be eyeing in free agency:

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Heat Rumors: Herro, Crowder, Warren, Cap Situation

June 29th, 2022 at 11:33am CST by Luke Adams

“Early indications” are that a potential Tyler Herro extension with the Heat this offseason would land in the range of $25MM per year, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report.

Herro will become eligible for a rookie scale extension when the NBA’s 2022/23 league year begins later this week. He boosted his stock during the regular season by averaging 20.7 points per game and making a career-high 39.9% of his three-point attempts, but a mediocre playoff run (12.9 PPG with a .229 3PT%) clouded his value entering the summer.

The Heat and Herro are under no obligation to reach an extension this offseason, but doing so would keep him off the restricted free agent market in 2023. Typically, rookie scale extensions worth less than the maximum aren’t agreed to at or near the start of free agency, so the team and the 22-year-old may take a few weeks or months to negotiate a new deal. The extension deadline is the day before the ’22/23 season begins.

Here’s more on the Heat:

  • If the Heat can’t retain P.J. Tucker in free agency, they’ll consider attempting to trade for Suns forward Jae Crowder or potentially signing free agent forward T.J. Warren, a source tells Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. Winderman stresses that those would be fallback options for the team, which is willing to offer Tucker three fully guaranteed years. Crowder played in Miami briefly in 2019/20 before leaving for Phoenix in free agency.
  • In a separate story for The Sun Sentinel, Winderman explores how the Heat’s reluctance to impose a hard cap on themselves this offseason may impact their roster moves. It would mean the bi-annual exception can’t be used on a player like Caleb Martin and would mean the Heat’s best offer for P.J. Tucker would start at $8.4MM (via the Non-Bird exception) rather than $10.35MM (the full mid-level).
  • In case you missed it, a report earlier today suggested that Victor Oladipo is considered likely to leave the Heat in free agency.
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