Two latest NBA personnel deadlines create swirl, as Heat stand pat; Herro, Love out
MIAMI — With a midseason roster makeover that has included the additions of Terry Rozier and Delon Wright, two of the NBA’s final personnel deadlines may not be of consequence to the Miami Heat.
Friday stood as the final day players had to be waived in order to be eligible for playoff rosters elsewhere. That led to moves that included the Atlanta Hawks waiving Patty Mills and the Detroit Pistons waiving Mike Muscala and Shake Milton.
Players waived by March 1 can sign any time up to the final day of the season to be playoff eligible elsewhere, with Muscala already having moved on to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The next NBA deadline comes Monday, the final day teams can sign players to two-way contracts. The Heat currently are at the three-player maximum on such deals, with Jamal Cain, Cole Swider and Alondes Williams. All three currently are with the Heat.
Should the Heat opt for a two-way alternative, one of those three would have to be waived, each with their Heat two-way contracts already guaranteed for the season.
The Heat this season already have made a two-way move, with RJ Hampton waived and Williams signed.
An option now off the board is former Heat guard Jamaree Bouyea, who has been signed off the Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, to a two-way deal by the San Antonio Spurs.
Despite being at the NBA roster limit of 18 players under contract (15 on standard deals, three on two-way contracts), the Heat do have the wherewithal to make a move should they opt to release guard Dru Smith, who underwent season-ending knee surgery in December.
Such a move would allow the Heat to either add a player on a standard deal or to shift one of the current two-way players to a standard contract and then sign a two-way player.
The final personnel deadline of the season is April 14, the final day of the regular season. Players must be signed by then for playoff eligibility and also can be signed by then to contracts beyond this season.
The Heat have made such final-week moves before, including agreements with Duncan Robinson, Kendrick Nunn and Omer Yurtseven, among others.
Herro, Love out
Tyler Herro and Kevin Love again were out for Saturday’s game against the Utah Jazz.
Herro missed his fourth consecutive game, Previously listed as out with a hyperextended left knee, Herro now is listed out with the tendinitis in his right foot, which also had been problematic.
“It’s managing where he is right now,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Once he feels right and passes the protocols, he’ll play.”
Love missed his second consecutive game with a bruised right heel, sustained when Portland Trail Blazers center Deandre Ayton fell on him in Tuesday night’s Heat victory.
Waiting game
Amid reports of USA Basketball remaining hopeful of Joel Embiid being able to play for the team at this summer’s Paris Olympics, and with word of several players already considered core roster components for the 12-player roster, Heat center Bam Adebayo declined comment on the process.
A report by The Athletic said USA Basketball already has identified an Olympic core that would include Embiid, Jrue Holiday, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Jayson Tatum.
Adebayo was a member of the USA Basketball roster that won gold at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and has expressed a desire for a return engagement.
“I feel like that’s between me and USA,” said Adebayo, with the Heat on Saturday hosting the Jazz at Kaseya Center. “And I feel like that information will be shared when it should.”
Asked if he believes he is part of the core of the next iteration of the Olympic roster, Adebayo said, “If it happens, it happens. If it don’t, it don’t.”
Spoelstra will be an Olympic assistant to Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr.