After missing on trade for Kevin Durant, busy and important part of offseason begins for Heat
The Miami Heat's offseason began nearly two months ago after being swept out of the first round of the playoffs. But the NBA offseason officially began Monday after the Oklahoma City Thunder won the 2025 NBA championship on Sunday night.
What does that mean for teams around the league? The Heat and other NBA teams can now begin negotiating with their own players who will become free agents or their own players who could become free agents as a result of the non-exercising of an option or the exercising of an early termination option — discussions that are permitted to start on the day after the last game of the NBA Finals.
After the Heat again missed out on trading for future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant, Miami begins a busy week that includes the start of some negotiations on Monday, the two-day NBA Draft on Wednesday and Thursday, and most contract deadlines ahead of the June 30 start of league-wide free agency.
How will the Heat proceed this offseason? The coming days and weeks will provide an answer.
For the Heat, it is allowed to start doing this on Monday:
▪ The Heat can begin negotiating with guard Alec Burks, who will become an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
Burks, 33, hopes to strike a deal to return to Miami. He signed a one-year veteran minimum contract with the Heat last summer and again will likely need to settle for a minimum deal to re-sign with the Heat this summer.
'The only thing I'm looking at is coming back here,' Burks said of his desire to return to the Heat last week. 'Everything else is what it is.'
If Burks signs another one-year veteran minimum contract this season, he would return to the Heat on a one-year deal worth $3.6 million. But his cap hit against the tax and aprons would be just $2.3 million because of NBA rules that are in place to encourage teams to sign veterans.
▪ The Heat can begin negotiating with guard Davion Mitchell, who is set to become a restricted free agent this offseason.
The Heat is expected to extend an $8.7 million qualifying offer to Mitchell before the Sunday deadline to make him a restricted free agent, allowing Miami to match outside offers in free agency to retain Mitchell. If the Heat doesn't extend that qualifying offer, Mitchell would become an unrestricted free agent this offseason and Miami would lose 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 is expected to extend to him in the coming days. But the more likely scenario after Mitchell's strong finish to this season with the Heat is for him to sign an offer sheet with another team when free agency begins on July 1, 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. The Heat can start negotiating this type of deal on Monday in hopes of getting a commitment from Mitchell ahead of June 30, when league-wide free agent negotiations are allowed to begin.
'It's an amazing fit,' said Mitchell, who started this season with the Toronto Raptors before being traded to the Heat on Feb. 6 as part of the Jimmy Butler deal. 'Everything they do, everything they're about, it's like I really didn't have to do anything. I feel like I'm just here. I feel like I can be free.'
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.
▪ The Heat can now begin negotiations with guards Josh Christopher, Dru Smith and Isaiah Stevens, who all finished this past season on a two-way contract with Miami.
The Heat has until Sunday to extend qualifying offers to retain the right of first refusal on the contracts of Smith and Stevens, with the possibility of bringing them back next season on another two-way deal. But Christopher 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.
Even if the Heat doesn't extend a qualifying offer to Smith and Stevens before Sunday's deadline, Miami could still bring them back on a two-way contract next season. But without a qualifying offer, Smith and/or Stevens would become unrestricted free agents this offseason and the Heat would lose the power to always have an opportunity match outside offers.
▪ The Heat can start negotiating with forward Keshad Johnson, who has a $2 million team option in his contract for this upcoming season. The Heat has until Sunday to decide on that team option, with Johnson becoming an unrestricted free agent if Miami chooses to bypass the option.
If the Heat passes on that option, it could bring back Johnson on a two-way contract if he first clears waivers and then agrees to such a deal. This conversion would open a spot on Miami's 15-man standard roster for this upcoming season,
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.
Johnson, who turned 24 on Monday, is expected to play for the Heat's summer league team for the second consecutive year this offseason.
▪ The Heat can begin negotiating with three-point shooting forward Duncan Robinson, who has a relatively unique contract situation.
Robinson, 31, 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.
The expectation is Robinson will bypass the early-termination option in his contract, guaranteeing $9.9 million of his salary for next season.
The Heat can then create $10 million in savings against the salary cap, luxury tax and aprons by waiving Robinson by the July 8 deadline.
But once Robinson passes on the early-termination option in his contract to guarantee a chunk of his salary for next season, he would be eligible to be traded. This could be an attractive trade chip because Robinson's new team could then release him by July 8 and save $10 million against the salary cap, luxury tax and aprons.
Another option is for Robinson to exercise the early-termination option in his contract and become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Robinson can then work with the Heat to return on a contract that would pay him his current $9.9 million guarantee next season with additional seasons of guaranteed money tacked on.
Robinson, who joined the Heat as an unrestricted free agent in 2018, is the franchise's all-time leader for the most career three-point makes.
▪ The Heat is allowed to begin negotiating with forward Nikola Jovic, who is eligible to sign an extension with Miami this offseason worth as much as $247 million over five seasons. Jovic has one season left on his rookie contract, as he's due $4.4 million this upcoming season.
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