Vincent leaves Heat in free agency to join Lakers. Strus next to go? And Heat trades Oladipo

What was expected became a reality in the opening hours of free agency.

With the Miami Heat limited in what it could offer because of its salary-cap situation under the new and ultra-restrictive collective bargaining agreement, the Heat entered free agency in danger of losing two starters from last season’s team that went on a historic playoff run to the NBA Finals as a No. 8 seed.

The Heat lost one of those starters shortly after free-agent negotiations were allowed to begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, when guard Gabe Vincent agreed to join the Los Angeles Lakers on a three-year contract worth $33 million, a league source confirmed to the Miami Herald.

Before the opening night of free agency was over, the Heat also traded injured guard Victor Oladipo’s expiring $9.5 million salary into the Oklahoma City Thunder’s cap space. The Heat took nothing back in the deal but did send undisclosed draft compensation to the Thunder as part of a move that allowed Miami to open a roster spot, shed $9.5 million in salary and create a trade exception worth about $9.5 million.

Heat Day 1 free agency tracker: Heat loses Vincent, keeps Love, adds Richardson

The Heat is still waiting for a resolution on free-agent forward Max Strus, who also started for Miami during its playoff run to the NBA Finals. The expectation entering free agency was that Strus was likely going to leave the Heat to sign elsewhere and the Cleveland Cavaliers are the expected landing spot.

But the Heat didn’t waste time in trying to replace who it lost and could lose. The Heat pivoted to bring back guard Josh Richardson for a second stint with the organization and also retained forward Kevin Love on the first day of free agency, according to multiple league sources.

Richardson will sign a two-year-deal at the minimum worth about $5.9 million to return to the Heat after closing last season with the New Orleans Pelicans. The contract includes a starting salary of $2.9 million and a player option in the second season.

Love will sign a two-year deal with a starting salary of about $3.7 million to stay with the Heat. The contract also includes a player option in the second year, as the Heat used non-Bird rights to give Love a bit more than the minimum salary.

As for Vincent, the Heat hoped to re-sign him. Team president Pat Riley met with Vincent in Los Angeles this week to encourage him to return.

But the Heat’s initial offer to Vincent did not meet his expectations. The Heat’s final offer to Vincent was a four-year deal worth about $34 million ($8.5 million per season), according to a league source.

Vincent ended up taking the Lakers’ three-year offer worth $33 million ($11 million per season), which includes a starting salary of about $10.5 million. The next stage of Vincent’s NBA career takes him to his home state of California.

Vincent, who went undrafted out of UC-Santa Barbara in 2018, leaves the Heat after becoming one of the organization’s undrafted success stories. He spent the last four seasons with the Heat after initially joining Miami on a two-way contract midway through the 2019-20 season.

After Kyle Lowry went out with a knee injury this past season, Vincent took over as the Heat’s starting point guard on Feb. 4 and remained in that role through the NBA Finals. Vincent played on a minimum salary of $1.8 million last season.

Vincent, who turned 27 on June 14, averaged career-highs in points (9.4 per game) and rebounds (2.1 per game) while dishing out 2.5 assists per game and shooting 40.2 percent from the field and 33.4 percent from three-point range in 68 games (34 starts) this past regular season. He also provided quality perimeter defense in the Heat’s man and zone schemes.

Vincent then started each of the 22 games he appeared in during the Heat’s playoff run, missing one game this postseason because of a sprained ankle. He averaged 12.7 points, 1.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game while shooting 40.2 percent from the field and 37.8 percent on 6.1 three-point attempts per game during this year’s playoffs, including a 29-point performance in a win over the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.

In four seasons with the Heat, Vincent averaged 7.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 39.9 percent from the field and 33.9 percent from beyond the arc in 195 regular-season games (68 starts). Vincent’s NBA debut came with the Heat on Jan. 27, 2020.

Strus, 27, is another one of the Heat’s undrafted success stories. He went undrafted out of DePaul in 2019 before earning a two-way contract from the Heat in the 2020 offseason and then being promoted to the Heat’s 15-man roster in the 2021 offseason.

Like Vincent, Strus played on a minimum salary of $1.8 million this past season. He has established himself as a quality NBA three-point shooter who also developed other areas of his game since joining the Heat.

Strus has spent the last three seasons with the Heat. He has averaged 10.1 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game while shooting 42.7 percent from the field and 37.1 percent from three-point range in 187 regular-season games (49 starts) during his time with Miami.

This past regular season, Strus averaged career-highs in points (11.5 per game), rebounds (3.2 per game) and assists (2.1 per game) while shooting 41 percent from the field and 35 percent on seven three-point attempts per game in 80 appearances (33 starts). He turned in one of the best performances of his NBA career in the Heat’s play-in win over the Chicago Bulls on April 14 to clinch a playoff spot, scoring 31 points on 7-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc in the victory.

Strus then started in each of the Heat’s 23 games during its deep playoff run. He averaged 9.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game while shooting 40.2 percent from the field and 31.9 percent from three-point range during this year’s playoffs.

Strus played in just two NBA regular-season games before joining the Heat.

WHAT DOES HEAT ROSTER LOOK LIKE? AND TPE DETAILS

The Heat’s current salary-cap breakdown for next season now includes Jimmy Butler ($45.2 million), Bam Adebayo ($32.6 million), Lowry ($29.7 million), Tyler Herro ($27 million), Duncan Robinson ($18.2 million), Caleb Martin ($6.8 million), Love ($3.7 million), Jaime Jaquez Jr. ($3.5 million), Nikola Jovic ($2.4 million), Richardson ($2 million cap hit despite higher actual salary), and Haywood Highsmith ($1.9 million nonguaranteed salary).

Not including cap holds, the Heat has about $175.5 million committed to salaries for 11 players, including “unlikely to be earned incentives” that raise Herro’s cap number for this upcoming season to $29.5 million.

With the 2023-24 salary cap set at $136 million, the luxury tax at $165.2 million, the first tax apron at $172.3 million and the second tax apron at $182.7 million, the Heat is well above the luxury-tax threshold and is close to crossing the newly instituted and punitive second apron with roster spots still to fill for next season.

The Heat entered free agency with full Bird rights for both Strus and Vincent, which allows Miami to exceed the salary cap to re-sign them up to their maximum salary despite being over the cap. But bringing either of them back comes at a price since the Heat is already deep into the tax.

While a contract that includes a starting salary in the $10 million-$12 million range for Strus and Vincent seems reasonable in today’s NBA economy, it’s the added tax money that makes that type of deal an unattractive one for the Heat. If the Heat hypothetically signed Vincent to a contract that included a starting salary of $12 million for this upcoming season, the signing would have cost Miami about $40 million because it would have added more than $30 million to the team’s tax bill with its current payroll.

The problem is the Heat doesn’t have cap space and very likely won’t have the full $5 million taxpayer mid-level exception to replace Strus and Vincent. The new CBA penalizes teams above the second apron, which Miami is on track to approach and possible exceed when it fills out its roster, by not allowing them to use a mid-level exception.

The Heat also isn’t in position to acquire an outside free agent through a sign-and-trade because such a move hard caps a team at $172 million — a line Miami is already beyond.

That means the only realistic way for Miami to add outside talent this offseason is through a trade and/or with minimum contracts unless a move is made to change the salary-cap math.

This is why the Heat has decided to wait patiently on star guard Damian Lillard to make a decision on his future with the Portland Trail Blazers. Landing Lillard or another star through a trade is essentially the Heat’s only route to make a significant upgrade to the roster this offseason.

With Vincent gone and Love back, five players from the Heat’s season-ending roster remain available in free agency: Jamal Cain, Orlando Robinson, Max Strus, Omer Yurtseven and Cody Zeller. Cain and Robinson are restricted free agents.

After being traded to the Thunder, Oladipo will continue rehabbing after tearing the patellar tendon in his left knee in the first round of this year’s playoffs. He won’t be ready for the start of the season, but his hope is to return to game action as soon as early in 2024.

The Heat’s new $9.5 million trade exception will expire one year from the date the Oladipo trade becomes official.

Trade exceptions allow teams to trade for a player whose salary fits or players whose salaries combine to fit into the exception without having to send back salary to match. Chunks of the exception can also be used to acquire different players split up between multiple trades.

Trade exceptions can’t be combined with a player to acquire a more expensive salary, with the Heat only able to absorb a player whose salary is equal to or lower than the exception.

The Heat could include a player in the deal, but the player doesn’t need to earn $9.5 million or anything close to it to satisfy salary-cap rules to complete the trade because of the exception.

NBA teams are allowed to carry up to 21 players under contract in the offseason and preseason, a total that does not include those on summer league contracts. Rosters must be cut to a maximum total of 18 players (15 on standard contracts and three on two-way contracts) by the start of the regular season.

While negotiations were allowed to begin Friday evening, free agents can’t formally sign their new contracts until Thursday at noon.