REPORT: The Heat’s offseason will be long but busy. Here are significant dates and deadlines to remember.
On this week’s Heat Check, we look at Miami Heat president Pat Riley’s season-ending news conference and the big Jimmy Butler extension question.
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra didn’t expect to start his offseason in early May. He planned to be busy coaching the Heat in the second round of the playoffs right now.
“I literally wasn’t planning on these next two months looking like this,” Spoelstra said on Heat exit interview day earlier this month. “So we have a much longer offseason.”
A longer offseason than recent seasons, as the Heat made it all the way to the Eastern Conference finals in 2022 and NBA Finals in 2023 before being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs this year by the Boston Celtics on May 1.
But the Heat’s long offseason will be filled with work to build next season’s roster, as the league converges in Chicago this week for the NBA Draft Combine. The Heat and other teams around the NBA will be busy evaluating draft prospects for the next month.
Here’s a rundown of the notable dates and deadlines to know about …
May 12-19: The NBA Draft Combine will be held in Chicago. As usual, the Heat will be represented by a large contingent at the combine. Among those from the Heat expected to attend are president Pat Riley; general manager Andy Elisburg; assistant general manager Adam Simon; vice president of player personnel Eric Amsler; director of college and pro scouting Keith Askins; scouts Bob Staak, Jack Fitzgerald and Bob McAdoo; senior director of team development Ruth Hunter; and scouting operations coordinator Jeff Saunders.
June 15 or shortly after: The Heat and other NBA teams can start negotiating with their own imminent free agents the day following the NBA Finals’ final game, which could be as early as June 15 or as late as June 24. For the Heat, this means negotiations may begin with Caleb Martin (if he declines his $7.1 million player option, as expected), Haywood Highsmith, and others.
June 26: The first round of the NBA Draft, with the Heat holding the 15th overall pick in the first round. The Heat is not permitted to trade its first-round pick before the draft because it owes a lottery-protected 2025 first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the NBA doesn’t allow teams to be without consecutive future first-round picks. But the Heat could select a player on behalf of another team in the draft as part of a trade that’s agreed to before or during the draft, but is announced and finalized after the draft.
June 27: The second round of the NBA Draft, with the Heat holding the 43rd overall pick in the second round. NBA teams can buy and sell second-round selections.
June 29: The deadline for most contract options around the NBA. This is the deadline for Thomas Bryant ($2.8 million player option), Kevin Love ($4 million player option), Martin ($7.1 million player option) and Josh Richardson ($3.1 million player option) to pick up the 2024-25 player options in their contracts and stay on the Heat’s books. If they don’t exercise the player options in their deals, they will become unrestricted free agents this summer.
This is also the last day for the Heat to extend qualifying offers to Jamal Cain, Cole Swider, and Alondes Williams, making them restricted free agents. June 30: Free agent discussions can start at 6 p.m. The Heat’s own upcoming free agents include Highsmith, Patty Mills, and Delon Wright, among others.
July 1: The NBA’s free agency moratorium begins at 12:01 a.m. for all contracts other than the signing of first-round picks and minimum deals (two years or less). Restricted free agents are also still allowed to sign an offer sheet, and third-year and fourth-year rookie options can still be exercised. Two-way contracts can also still be signed and converted during the moratorium.
July 6: The NBA’s moratorium is lifted at noon, as teams can sign free agents, trades based on the new salary-cap year can become official and the clock begins on offer sheets signed during the moratorium.
This is also the date that the Heat is expected to begin summer league action as part of the California Classic at Chase Center in San Francisco. The game schedule has not yet been announced.
July 7: Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler both become extension eligible.
Adebayo, who turns 27 on July 18, is eligible to sign a four-year, $245 million extension with the Heat this offseason provided he passes the supermax requirements. The only way Adebayo can still qualify for the supermax this offseason is to be picked to an All-NBA team (first, second, or third) for this season, which will be announced later in the playoffs. If Adebayo does not qualify for the supermax, he will be available for a three-year, $165 million contract this summer. Any extension Adebayo signs this offseason will begin in the 2026-27 season.
Butler, who turns 35 on September 14, will be able to negotiate a two-year contract deal worth approximately $113 million this offseason. This agreement would replace his $52.4 million player option for 2025-26, beginning that season. This two-year max agreement would include salaries of $54.3 million for the 2025-26 season (almost $2 million more than the player option on Butler’s existing contract for that season) and $58.6 million for the 2026-2027 season, when Butler will be 37 years old. The Heat have until June 30, 2025 to sign Butler to this two-year max agreement, but Butler and his camp will want to sign it before the start of the next season.
July 12: Las Vegas summer league begins and runs through July 22. After playing in the California Classic, the Heat will join the league’s other 29 teams for Las Vegas summer league. The game schedule has not yet been announced.
July 13: The final day to withdraw a qualifying offer from a restricted free agent. Among those who could become restricted free agents for the Heat this summer are Cain, Swider and Williams.
July 15 is the deadline for the Heat to guarantee developing center Orlando Robinson’s full $2.1 million salary for the upcoming season. If the Heat does not guarantee Robinson’s salary, he will become an unrestricted free agency. July 27: Men’s basketball begins at the Summer Olympics in Paris, with games running until August 10. Spoelstra will be an assistant coach for Team USA, and Adebayo is one of 12 players on the national team’s roster. Meanwhile, two more Heat players are likely to compete in the Olympics this summer: Nikola Jovic for Serbia and Patty Mills for Australia.
Aug. 31: This is the final day for NBA teams to use the waive-and-stretch provision ahead of next season, which allows teams to shed salary by waiving a player and stretching the money owed to that player over multiple seasons.
Oct. 1: The Heat is expected to open training camp ahead of the 2024-25 season on this day.
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