Miami Heat set 2023-24 NBA roster for opening night
MIAMI – The Miami Heat moved within the NBA regular-season roster limit Saturday by releasing Cheick Diallo and Justin Champagnie, as well as signing Cole Swider to a two-way contract.
In addition, the Heat shifted guard Dru Smith from his tryout contract to a standard deal.
While teams have until Monday at 5 p.m. to set their regular-season rosters, the deadline effectively was Saturday, due to the 48-hour NBA waiver period.
Teams are allowed to carry up to 15 players on standard contracts and up to three more on two-way contracts, deals with limits of 50 games on the active roster over the 82-game regular season.
For the Heat, Saturday’s work largely was clerical, but also with an eye on the league’s new taxing economics.
Rather than open with a full 15-player standard roster, the Heat will open with 14 under such deals: Smith, Bam Adebayo, Thomas Bryant, Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, Haywood Highsmith, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Nikola Jovic, Kevin Love, Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin, Josh Richardson, Duncan Robinson and Orlando Robinson.
Of those contracts, Orlando Robinson’s is partially guaranteed, with his 2023-24 guarantee moving from $75,000 to $850,000 on opening night. His $1.8 million becomes fully guaranteed if on the roster on Jan. 10, the NBA guarantee date for all standard contracts. Smith was added on a non-guaranteed deal.
Under two-way contracts for the Heat are Jamal Cain, R.J. Hampton and Swider. Those deals, which pay half the veteran minimum and do not come with playoff eligibility, can be swapped out in favor of other players at any time.
While Cain had a solid preseason and arguably merited a promotion to a standard deal over Smith, such a move would have put the Heat at potential risk for losing Cain. Once players are converted to standard contracts, they then must clear waivers to be returned to a two-way deal. It is a risk the Heat apparently were more willing to take with Smith than Cain.
Complicating the Heat’s plans for Wednesday’s 7:30 p.m. regular-season opener against the Detroit Pistons are several injuries that lingered beyond Friday’s conclusion of the team’s five-game preseason.
Among those sidelined for Friday’s loss to the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center were Richardson (foot), Highsmith (knee) and Jaquez (groin). Highsmith already is out for the season’s opening week, with Jaquez potentially missing such time, as well.
The Heat brought five tryout players to camp, with undrafted USC forward Drew Peterson and former Brooklyn Nets guard Alondis Williams released during the preseason. The other three were Swider, Champagnie and Diallo.
In addition, Hampton was added to the camp roster on a two-way deal, closing the preseason with a team-high 17 points in Friday’s 110-104 loss in Houston that closed out the Heat’s 2-3 preseason.
“His speed, his quickness, that elevation that he has, he had a really good training camp and did some intriguing things,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of the No. 24 pick in the 2020 NBA draft. “It’s part of this process. We were intrigued by him when he was available, just to bring him in the program.”
In Swider, the Heat add insurance with their 3-point shooting. With Smith, there is a second true point guard on the roster beyond Lowry.
Friday’s loss left the Heat with a losing preseason record for the first time since they went 3-4 in exhibitions in 2010 at the start of the Big Three era with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
Spoelstra nonetheless saw net gains.
“I thought we had a really good camp,” he said. “I thought we’ve been able to get a lot of things accomplished. Different guys at different times were able to show something, some of their improvement.
“I think we made some strides throughout our roster. And I think everybody’s just looking forward now to the next few days and healing up and getting ready for opening night.”
Wednesday will be the Heat’s first game with meaning since they lost Game 5 of last season’s NBA Finals to the Denver Nuggets.
“We have a lot of familiar faces, and we have great continuity. But the team feels different,” Spoelstra said. “So I’m looking forward to this new challenge and how things will be different, and hopefully better.”
