Yahoo Finance Heat opens free agency by adding Lowry and Tucker, retaining Robinson, Dedmon, Strus, Vincent
The Miami Heat pursued veteran guard Kyle Lowry at the trade deadline in late March and didn’t get him. But the organization’s interest in Lowry never waned.
Less than five months later after a disappointing first-round exit in the playoffs, the Heat is adding Lowry to its roster in free agency.
Just minutes after free-agent negotiations were allowed to begin at 6 p.m. on Monday, the Heat struck a deal to bring Lowry to Miami through a sign-and-trade transaction with the Toronto Raptors. Lowry confirmed the move with a post on his Twitter account.
— Kyle Lowry (@Klow7) August 2, 2021
But the addition of Lowry was just a part, albeit an important one, of an eventful night for Miami’s front office.
The Heat also crossed another big item off its to-do list early in free agency, agreeing to a deal to re-sign restricted free agent Duncan Robinson within the first hour that negotiations were allowed. According to ESPN, Robinson’s new contract is worth $90 million over five years, which is the largest ever for an undrafted player.
The Heat then agreed to terms with free agent forward P.J. Tucker to bring him in on a two-year deal worth $15 million, according to The Athletic. Tucker helps address a Heat need as a power forward who’s a versatile defender and can help stretch the floor with three-point shooting to complement starting center Bam Adebayo’s game.
But Miami wasn’t done, as veteran center Dewayne Dedmon agreed late Monday night to a one-year deal believed to be at the minimum or close to it to return to the Heat, a league source confirmed.
Before the night came to an end, the Heat also reached agreements with guard Gabe Vincent and wing Max Strus — Miami’s two two-way contract players from last season — to sign both to a two-year minimum contract worth $3.5 million, according to league sources.
As for the 35-year-old Lowry, he’ll sign a three-year deal worth about $90 million to join the Heat, according to a league source. All three years are fully guaranteed on the contract that will end when he’s 38.
The machinations of the sign-and-trade that will bring Lowry to Miami were still being worked out as of 7:30 p.m. on Monday, with Goran Dragic and Precious Achiuwa the two Heat players linked to the deal. Dragic, who is considered one of the best point guards in Heat history, is under contract for $19.4 million this upcoming season and Achiuwa is under contract for $2.7 million this upcoming season.
Miami needed to acquire Lowry via sign-and-trade because it does not have cap space to sign him outright as an over-the-cap team.
The Heat now moves forward with a core of Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, Lowry, Robinson and Tyler Herro.
Despite his age, Lowry (6-0, 196 pounds) is still considered one of the league’s top point guards. Lowry, who was voted into the All-Star Game in six of the past seven seasons, will be expected to elevate the Heat’s offense with his efficient three-point shooting and will take some of the on-ball pressure off Butler as a facilitator while also serving as a tough on-ball defender on the other side of the court.
Lowry averaged 17.2 points while shooting 43.6 percent from the field, 39.6 percent on threes and 87.5 percent from the foul line, 5.4 rebounds, 7.3 assists and one steal in 34.8 minutes with the Raptors last season. He has spent the past nine seasons in Toronto and is considered one of the greatest players in Raptors history.
Lowry was named to the All-NBA Third Team for the 2015-16 season and was a key part of the Kawhi Leonard-led Raptors team that won the NBA championship in 2019.
Heat free agency tracker: Miami lands Lowry and Tucker, bring back Robinson and Dedmon
The Heat always seemed to be Lowry’s preference entering free agency. Playing for Miami appeals to him and Butler and Lowry’s close friendship was a factor.
Butler revealed earlier this year that Lowry is the godfather of his daughter Rylee. Butler and Lowry were also Team USA teammates on the squad that won gold in Brazil in the 2016 Olympics.
The Heat’s pursuit of Lowry at the trade deadline in March fell short in part because of its reluctance to include Herro, 21, in offers. Just a few months later, Miami acquired Lowry as a free agent and Herro is still on the Heat’s roster.
The other veteran Miami added into the mix is the 36-year-old Tucker, who helped the Milwaukee Bucks win an NBA championship last season. Acquired by the Bucks in a March trade, Tucker averaged 4.3 points while shooting 32.2 percent on 2.6 three-point attempts per game during Milwaukee’s playoff run that ended just a few weeks ago.
Tucker, who has built a tough and strong defensive reputation during his 10-year NBA career, spent part of the 2016-17 season as Lowry’s teammate with the Raptors.
In Robinson, the Heat is bringing back a player it helped develop into one of the NBA’s top shooters. In the past two regular seasons combined, only Sacramento’s Buddy Hield (553) and Portland’s Damian Lillard (545) have totaled more made threes than Robinson (520).
Robinson, 27, was the only Heat player to appear in all 72 games this regular season. He closed this past season with the fourth-most made threes in the NBA at 250 behind Lillard (275), Hield (282) and Golden State’s Stephen Curry (337), and shot 40.8 percent on 8.5 three-point attempts per game.
Robinson, who first signed with the Heat as an undrafted prospect out of Michigan in 2018, set a Heat record for threes made (270) in a single season in 2019-20.
The Heat had the right to match any outside offer Robinson received as a restricted free agent, but he wanted to stay in Miami and agreed to terms early in free agency.
Dedmon’s return provides the Heat with much-needed size in the frontcourt at 7 feet and 245 pounds, especially with Achiuwa believed to be in the Lowry sign-and-trade deal. Dedmon impressed after signing with the Heat as a late-season addition in April, averaging 7.1 points on 70.8 percent shooting and 5.4 rebounds in 16 regular-season games off the bench.
Dedmon, 31, took over as the Heat’s backup center shortly after he signed and provided much-needed quality minutes when Adebeyo went to the bench. The expectation is that Dedmon will again play as Miami’s backup center next season.
In Strus and Vincent’s case, their new contract is a clear upgrade after they spent last season as the Heat’s two-way contract players. Both Strus and Vincent are on Miami’s summer league team that plays its first game Tuesday night in Sacramento.
Strus, 25, is known as a three-point shooter but has shown the potential to be more than that. He averaged 6.1 points while shooting 45.5 percent from the field and 33.8 percent on threes in 39 regular-season games off the bench last season.
Vincent, 25, joined the Heat’s summer team in Sacramento on Monday after representing Nigeria in the Tokyo Olympics. He’s known as a three-point shooter but impressed as a perimeter defender last season, averaging 4.8 points while shooting 37.8 percent from the field and 30.9 percent on threes, 1.1 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 50 regular-season games (seven starts).
But at least one of the Heat’s own free agents agreed to terms elsewhere, as ESPN reported that veteran forward Trevor Ariza agreed to a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday.
With Robinson and Dedmon returning to the Heat and Ariza moving on to the Lakers, there are six remaining players from Miami’s season-ending roster who remain free agents: Nemanja Bjelica, Udonis Haslem, Andre Iguodala, Kendrick Nunn (restricted), Victor Oladipo, and Omer Yurtseven.
The 2021-22 NBA salary cap is set at $112.4 million and the luxury-tax threshold is at about $136.6 million.
By operating as an over-the-cap team and forgoing cap space, the Heat has two exceptions available to use: the non-taxpayer midlevel exception for $9.5 million and the bi-annual exception for $3.7 million. Miami used part of its $9.5 million midlevel exception to add Tucker.
With most of the midlevel exception going to Tucker, the Heat doesn’t have much to offer in free agency. Because of its salary cap situation, Miami is expected to fill most of the remaining spots on its roster with minimum contracts as it faces a $143 million hard cap that’s triggered when acquiring a player through a sign-and-trade.
If Achiuwa and Dragic are indeed the only two Heat players who are part of the sign-and-trade deal for Lowry, the Heat’s roster for next season includes 10 players: Adebayo, Butler, Lowry, Robinson, Herro, KZ Okpala, Tucker, Dedmon, Strus and Vincent.
While negotiations began Monday evening, free agents can’t formally sign their new contracts until Friday at 12:01 p.m.
Friday is also the first day that Butler is eligible to sign his extension with the Heat. The expectation is that Miami will sign Butler to a maximum four-year contract extension once allowed later this week that’s worth about $181 million and begins in 2022-23, according to a league source.
