2025 Offseason Thread Vol.4

[marson]

If we have to choose between DeRozan or Kuminga, then give me Kuminga.

What bout Kuminga or Whitmore?

I’m not a big fan of adding Whitmore, especially since we’ve already invested in scorers in Herro and possibly Kaspa in a few years.

He’d likely just take touches away from Bam, Ware, and Herro.

Cam is more like a Jordan Clarkson-type down the line, while I think Kuminga’s game would complement Herro better.

[SA37]

I’d 100% take Kuminga over DeRozen. We know what DeMar is. He’s a quality player but he doesn’t fit and there’s a reason he’s being passed around the league now.

Kuminga is an unknown quantity. He has a lot of the tools to be great, but needs work too. In a development year, he’d be a good get as a 22yr old out to prove himself. Maybe he’s great. Maybe he’s meh. If possibly I’d limit the years to 3 and try and get him on a 3/70 type deal.

Sir he's known. He shoots 60% from stripe and 30% from 3. We don't need Temu Jimmy Tito.

[MartyConlonJr]

If we wanted to consider signing Luka Doncic as an outright free agent:
- Sign Damian Lillard to the vet min (why not).
- Trade Andrew Wiggins and Davion Mitchell for expirings and picks if you can.
- Either trade or let expire/waive team options on Nikola Jovic and Jaime Jaquez Jr. Get picks if you can.
- Any draft picks we acquired or our own would have cap holds, so probably trade them for future picks to retain the space (unless the picks are late first round or are 2nd rounders, that is same or less than cap holds).

2026-2027 roster:
C - Kel'el Ware ($4,654,920) / ?
PF - Bam Adebayo ($51,935,268) / ?
SF - ? / ?
SG - Tyler Herro ($33,000,000) / Pelle Larsson ($2,296,271)
PG - Damian Lillard ($3,815,861, cap hit $2,296,274) / Kasparas Jakucionis ($3,841,680)
=98,024,413
7 cap holds x $2,296,274 = 16,073,918
Total: $114,098,331

2026-2027 salary cap projected: $165,000,000

Cap space remaining: $50,901,669

Luka Doncic ($50,105,628)

The alternative plan is probably keeping JJJ, Jovic, Mitchell and moving Herro for expirings and picks if you can, resigning Jovic to something reasonable (12,000,000 a season?).

2026-2027 roster:
C - Kel'el Ware ($4,654,920) / ?
PF - Bam Adebayo ($51,935,268) / Nikola Jovic (12,000,000)
SF - ? / Jaime Jaquez Jr ($5,939,141)
SG - Kasparas Jakucionis ($3,841,680) / Pelle Larsson ($2,296,271)
PG - Davion Mitchell (12,000,000)
=92,667,280
6 cap holds x $2,296,274 = 13,777,644
Total: $106,444,924

Cap space remaining: $58,555,076

That would mean you could, if you got the 2nd pick in the NBA draft, still afford to pay that rookie scale, you have $10,745,722 to spare before meeting Luka's max.

That actually seems like a much better plan.
- Extend Nikola Jovic for 10-12 mill per season.
- Trade Andrew Wiggins and Tyler Herro for expirings and picks if you can.
- Tank.

C - Kel'el Ware /
PF - Bam Adebayo / Nikola Jovic
SF - Luka Doncic / Jaime Jaquez Jr
SG - Kasparas Jakucionis / Pelle Larsson
PG - Darren Peterson / Davion Mitchell

[Bishop45]

Cam or John Collin’s is top of list for me

[Hoops3355]

If it’s between Kuminga and Derozan, I’m taking Jaime Jaquez Junior. He’s gonna be 2026 NBA Most Improved Player.

I ship this. IF he can stop turning the ball over. I have great hope that his athleticism has returned after the long off-season and expect to see that 3 ball dropping.

[MiamiLoyal926]

For what? We just replaced Duncan's salary with the new guy's salary.

3 options.

A. Have a player on a 19.8M expiring deal
B. Have 9.8M in dead money
C. Have a player on an 8M expiring deal


Org chose C.

No.

A. Duncan opts out of his contract and we have $0 on our cap
B. We sign & trade him for a guy making $8 million and change

We chose B. We now have one more overpaid player on our roster for no reason whatsoever.

Like I said before, option C was likely the agreement they had in place before Duncan opted out. This was agreed upon days before the actual sign and trade most likely. Your option B implies we should have renege on the agreement? No way Duncan opts out without knowing this was the impending outcome. We were just waiting form the Pistons to make their other necessary moves first.

[greg4012]

The big thing for me is DeRozan can really score the ball, and Miami desperately needs someone other than Herro who can get his own offense and create for others.

Under contract until 2027. To what end?

This is the move to make if the goal is to be the 7-8 seed

I don't see Miami positioning the team to tank. Miami may still miss the playoffs, but the team will try to make the playoffs, and DeRozan helps with that goal. And as Riley pointed out in his end of the year press conference, Miami lost ~18 games where they had 20 point leads. If Miami cuts that in half, we're talking a 45-46-win team.

Beyond that, maybe DeRozan can help Herro (and others) improve their offensive games. Having veteran mentors is a big plus, and DeRozan has been an olympian and played in San Antonio under Popovic.

It definitely beats just letting Rozier expire.

IDK that I can agree. Adding Derozan and tying up cap for the next 2 seasons just makes Miami mid af at best while spending the next 2 seasons tied to a player playing out their age 36 and 37 season--a player that is a substantial downgrade from Jimmy Butler overall. If that's the end game for the next 2 seasons then that effectively guarantees Miami is going to overpay Herro sooner rather than later.

I much prefer biding time while focusing on youth development this season, hopefully ending up with a lotto pick in a stacked 2026 draft and enter 2026 free agency as one of the main market movers--whether that mean being the team that can leverage cap space to get future assets from other teams or being selective in buying good pieces that fit the young core and can grow with them (assuming the top of the line Free Agents slated for 2026 free agency have already extended).

[Kobewade11]

If we have to choose between DeRozan or Kuminga, then give me Kuminga.

What bout Kuminga or Whitmore?

Kuminga for size alone

[DayofMourning]

Kuminga wanted $35 mil per year.

GSW wanted to pay $30 mil per year.

Jabari just got $24 mil per year.

Nobody wants to pay Kumboy.

Give him $20 mil per.

[greg4012]

Who could have saw this coming?

Who tweeted this? My site is bugging out

Literally a teenage Heat fan with 90 followers.

15 followers*

[greg4012]

Still think we should explore Highsmith for Whitmore.

We also need to hit up these teams with too many 1sts for their own good and see if there’s anyone on our roster they’d be willing to part with picks for. We need build the asset cupboard for a superstar if we’re not going to tear it down

Having a high flyer would help the offense. Attack the rim and hit 3s is the name of the game. Whitmore does that well.

As long as no one expects the ball back once it's in his hands.

[Hoops3355]

No, that's just a salary cap thing. Dame is getting paid the same as if he was playing.

$54,126,450 this coming season
$58,456,566 next season

The offsets would be against those numbers.

Source?

CBS Yahoo and AI all back up what I said.

Yeah, when contracts are stretched, it's over 5 years.

Turner is eight years younger than Lopez, but their numbers last season were virtually identical. And Turner is now making three times as much money -- and that's before you factor in the more than $22 million in roster charges that will now be on Milwaukee's books over the next five seasons because of the decision to waive and stretch Lillard's deal.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/45636299/nba-free-agency-2025-ripple-effects-myles-turner-damian-lillard-news

I'm pretty surprised as a lawyer that they let the Bucks spread the payments to Dame as well over those 5 years based on what I've read. That seems crazy to me that they can just be your getting paid in 5 instead of 2 when that money was already agreed to but I guess it's a CBA thing?

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Still think we should explore Highsmith for Whitmore.

We also need to hit up these teams with too many 1sts for their own good and see if there’s anyone on our roster they’d be willing to part with picks for. We need build the asset cupboard for a superstar if we’re not going to tear it down

Having a high flyer would help the offense. Attack the rim and hit 3s is the name of the game. Whitmore does that well.

As long as no one expects the ball back once it's in his hands.

Haha that’s true but the same could be said for Kuminga, they both need an ego check in the worst way. Both definitely have good tools to work with and become great players if all goes well but they need to learn how to play the right way.

[MiamiLoyal926]

If it’s between Kuminga and Derozan, I’m taking Jaime Jaquez Junior. He’s gonna be 2026 NBA Most Improved Player.

This!!! JJJ and Jovic can take turns as starters at 3! Let’s go!

[greg4012]

Only thing I want from Sac is Keegan Murray

Someone who coincidentally will be a RFA in 2026. Which Miami could be a lead player in shaping what 2026 free agency looks like so long as they don't take on more money beyond 2026.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Whitmore is bigger or worst case just as big as Kuminga by the way and a slightly better rebounder.

[greg4012]

For what? We just replaced Duncan's salary with the new guy's salary.

3 options.

A. Have a player on a 19.8M expiring deal
B. Have 9.8M in dead money
C. Have a player on an 8M expiring deal


Org chose C.

No.

A. Duncan opts out of his contract and we have $0 on our cap
B. We sign & trade him for a guy making $8 million and change

We chose B. We now have one more overpaid player on our roster for no reason whatsoever.

You know why Duncan opted out, right?

[3ballbomber]

Can I remind everyone to stop calling out other posters and be respectful with your dialogue. Philosophical disagreements are fine, I really don't want to have to police this place and give warnings/time off etc. We're all grown adults who, in theory, should know what's acceptable and what isn't.

Basically, stop phucking around and just talk Heat basketball normally. Thanks.

The board is otherwise vibrant w/ good quality discussion. Whenever there is any animosity on this forum there is one common denominator involved, every time. Ain’t me. I don’t have number of different posters going at me regularly about the way in which i post or persistently post about distastefully, incessantly.

Wilt, Rather than address this to everybody on the board, like we’re the ones needed to be disciplined like kids, aim your concerns to the very culprit whom many have had a disdain for, who constantly ruffles feathers here that has resulted to your very post. Or is that going to cost board activity? The board will thrive w/out the constant ‘this player’s the corner stone/best player on this team & president & certain #14 & FO sucks & shld be fired/traded’ daily tirade. We f*ckin get it already. This Sh*t won’t stop until admins step in & finally squash this tiring a*s bullsh*t that’s been going on for years.

When you have one culprit causing the main issues, it ain’t the rest of the board to fix or told to behave. We aren’t the antagonist. Re-evaluate the situation & get to the heart of the issue & you won’t have to worry about this any longer.

[greg4012]

Our legit scouts know the players on their radar since high school - their work ethic, attitude, and skill set. So they must see something in Kuminga that we casual fans might not fully recognize.

They probably view him as a low-risk, high-reward project. He's incredibly athletic and could develop well under our coaching staff with the right fundamental training.

Personally, I'm intrigued and open to a reasonable deal. We lack a POA attacker who can pressure the paint outside of Herro, and Kuminga could definitely help fill that gap.

Unfortunately, Kuminga hasn't been that guy at all as an onball defender.

[3ammy3uck3ts]

Can I remind everyone to stop calling out other posters and be respectful with your dialogue. Philosophical disagreements are fine, I really don't want to have to police this place and give warnings/time off etc. We're all grown adults who, in theory, should know what's acceptable and what isn't.

Basically, stop phucking around and just talk Heat basketball normally. Thanks.

The board is otherwise vibrant w/ good quality discussion. Whenever there is any animosity on this forum there is one common denominator involved, every time. Ain’t me. I don’t have number of different posters going at me regularly about the way in which i post or persistently post about distastefully, incessantly.

Wilt, Rather than address this to everybody on the board, like we’re the ones needed to be disciplined like kids, aim your concerns to the very culprit whom many have had a disdain for, who constantly ruffles feathers here that has resulted to your very post. Or is that going to cost board activity? The board will thrive w/out the constant ‘this player’s the corner stone/best player on this team & president & certain #14 & FO sucks & shld be fired/traded’ daily tirade. We f*ckin get it already. This Sh*t won’t stop until admins step in & finally squash this tiring a*s bullsh*t that’s been going on for years.

When you have one culprit causing the main issues, it ain’t the rest of the board to fix or told to behave. We aren’t the antagonist. Re-evaluate the situation & get to the heart of the issue & you won’t have to worry about this any longer.