Heat makes roster decisions on Johnson, Mitchell and Smith ahead of free agency. What it means

Miami Herald

4 days ago

The Miami Heat has made some roster decisions ahead of this week's NBA Draft.
On Tuesday, the Heat exercised the $2 million team option in forward Keshad Johnson's contract to guarantee his salary for this upcoming season and extended an $8.7 million qualifying offer to guard Davion Mitchell to make him a restricted free agent. The Heat faced a Sunday deadline to do both things ahead of the start of league-wide free agent negotiations on Monday at 6 p.m
By extending this qualifying offer to Mitchell, the Heat is now allowed to match outside offers in free agency to retain him. If the Heat didn't extend this qualifying offer, Mitchell would have become an unrestricted free agent this offseason and Miami would have lost the power to have an opportunity to match outside offers.
Mitchell can return to the Heat on the one-year, $8.7 million qualifying offer that Miami extended him. But the more likely scenario after Mitchell's strong finish to this past season with the Heat is for him to sign an offer sheet with another team when free agency begins next week, putting pressure on Miami to make a decision on how far it's willing to go to keep him. The Heat would then have a few days to decide whether it will match that offer to re-sign Mitchell.
Mitchell could also simply negotiate a new contract with the Heat for any length and any amount in free agency this summer. Miami holds Mitchell's Bird rights, which allow the Heat to exceed the salary cap to re-sign him up to his maximum salary despite already being over the cap.
Mitchell, who turns 27 on Sept. 5, is expected to get the biggest contract of his NBA career after standing out following the February trade to the Heat. With Mitchell making $6.5 million this past season in the final year of his rookie-scale contract after getting drafted with the ninth overall pick in 2021, he could draw offers around the $14.1 million full midlevel exception range this summer.
After arriving to the Heat in the Jimmy Butler trade on Feb. 6, Mitchell averaged 10.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 50.4% from the field and 44.7% on 3.1 three-point attempts per game in 30 regular-season appearances (15 starts) for arguably the best sustained stretch of his NBA career.
But Mitchell's calling card is his on-ball defense. Known as 'off night' for his ability to shut down opposing teams' top scorers, Mitchell's point-of-attack defense immediately helped the Heat. The Heat allowed 3.4 fewer points per 100 possessions with Mitchell on the court compared to when he wasn't playing after the February trade.
As for Johnson, the Heat's decision to guarantee his $2 million salary for next season means he will likely get more time in the team's developmental program and likely be on the opening night roster unless he's involved in a trade before then. Johnson is eligible to be traded after Miami picked up his option on Tuesday.
Johnson impressed in the G League with averages of 17.6 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.2 blocks per game with the Heat's developmental affiliate (the Sioux Falls Skyforce) last season as an undrafted rookie.
But Johnson's NBA playing time with the Heat was limited, appearing in just 16 NBA games as a rookie last regular season. He logged double-digit minutes in only three of those 16 NBA regular-season appearances.
Johnson, who turned 24 on Monday, is expected to play for the Heat's summer league team for the second consecutive year this offseason.
With the Heat exercising Johnson's option, the Heat's current salary-cap breakdown includes 12 players on standard contracts with partially guaranteed or fully guaranteed salaries for next season: Bam Adebayo ($37.1 million), Tyler Herro ($31 million), Andrew Wiggins ($28.2 million), Terry Rozier ($24.9 million of $26.6 million salary currently guaranteed), Kyle Anderson ($9.2 million), Haywood Highsmith ($5.6 million), Nikola Jovic ($4.4 million), Kel'el Ware ($4.4 million), Kevin Love ($4.2 million), Jaime Jaquez Jr. ($3.9 million), Pelle Larsson ($978,000 of $2 million salary currently guaranteed) and Johnson ($2 million salary for next season).
If three-point shooting forward Duncan Robinson bypasses the early-termination option on his $19.9 million salary for next season, as expected, he would become the 13th Heat player on that list and put the Heat just two players short of the 15-man limit for an NBA standard roster. Robinson has until Sunday to exercise the early-termination option on his $19.9 million salary for next season and become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
If Robinson doesn't exercise the early-termination option in his deal by the Sunday deadline, he would then have $9.9 million of his $19.9 million salary for next season guaranteed and the the final $10 million of his salary would become guaranteed if he's still on the Heat's roster after July 8.
In addition, the Heat extended a two-way contract qualifying offer to guard Dru Smith on Tuesday, making him a restricted free agent and allowing the Heat to match outside offers. Smith, who closed last regular season on a two-way contract with the Heat and is eligible to sign another two-way deal with the Heat for next season, became a consistent contributor for the Heat last season before suffering a season-ending torn Achilles tendon during a Dec. 23 win over the Brooklyn Nets.
But the Heat is not planning to extend a qualifying offer to guard Isaiah Stevens before Sunday's deadline, which means he'll become an unrestricted free agent next week. Stevens, who closed last season on a two-way contract with Miami, is still expected to play for the Heat's summer league team this offseason and a return to Miami on another two-way deal for next season hasn't been completely ruled out.
Along with Johnson and Stevens, Ware and Larsson are expected to be part of the Heat's summer league roster for the second consecutive year this offseason. The Heat opens summer league action on July 5 in San Francisco before taking part in Las Vegas Summer League in mid-July.
Guard Josh Christopher, the other player who ended last season on a two-way contract with the Heat, is not eligible for another two-way contract next season because he's entering his fourth NBA season and two-way contracts are only for players with three or fewer years of NBA experience. Christopher will become an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
This leaves the Heat with all three of its two-way contract slots still open. Two-way contracts, which pay half the NBA rookie minimum and do not count toward the salary cap or luxury tax, allow for players to be on their NBA team's active list for as many as 50 regular-season games with other game action having to come in the G League. Two-way deals do not come with playoff eligibility.
The list of players from the Heat's season-ending roster who will be free agents this summer includes Christopher (unrestricted free agent), guard Alec Burks (unrestricted free agent), Mitchell (restricted free agent), Smith (restricted free agent) and Stevens (unrestricted free agent). Robinson could join that list and become an unrestricted free agent this summer if he exercises the early-termination option in his contract before Sunday's deadline.
The Heat holds the 20th pick in Wednesday's first round of the two-round NBA Draft. The Heat does not currently have a pick in Thursday's second round.