Heat signs first-round pick Precious Achiuwa to rookie contract. Here are the details

A day after signing its first-round pick from the 2017 draft to the richest contract in franchise history, the Miami Heat signed its latest first-round pick to his first NBA deal on Wednesday.

The Heat signed big man Precious Achiuwa, who was selected with 20th overall pick in last week’s draft, to a four-year deal worth about $12.5 million (120 percent of the rookie-scale amount, which is standard), according to a league source. He’s scheduled to make $2.6 million this upcoming season, $2.7 million in 2021-22, $2.8 million in 2022-23 and $4.4 million in 2023-24.

The third and fourth seasons are team options in rookie deals. By making Achiuwa a qualifying offer in the 2024 offseason, the Heat would keep him under control for a fifth season, as he will eligible for restricted free agency after four seasons.

“We were looking for bigs like him that are quick, that are athletic, that could run, that can handle,” Heat president Pat Riley said of Achiuwa on draft night. “Obviously, he’s an explosive player, plays above the rim. We just were very, very impressed with him and he was in our wheelhouse, and when we had an opportunity to draft him with his name still on the board, we were very excited.

“We think he probably is one of the most underrated players in the draft, and I think most likely — you could argue this — but the people debated that he may be the most athletic player in the draft, he has a real good upside. A lot of talent and were just very excited to have him, and I think he fits in perfectly with how we want to play, he fits in perfectly with Spo’s system on defense. He can play four positions defensively. He gets out on the break. He’s a rim-runner. So, I’m just excited that at 20, that we could find a player that is that good and of that kind of quality.”

Achiuwa (6-9, 225), who turned 21 in September, averaged 15.8 points while shooting 49.3 percent from the field and 13 of 40 on threes, 10.8 rebounds, one assist and 1.9 blocks as a freshman at Memphis last season to earn the AAC Player of the Year honor.

Achiuwa and other NBA rookies are facing a steep learning curve, with the accelerated schedule forcing first-year players to begin training camp with their new teams just a few weeks after the draft in early December for a Dec. 22 start to the 2020-21 season. Achiuwa said last week that he has not played organized basketball since his final college game on March 8 before the season was stopped because of the pandemic.

Achiuwa, who will wear No. 15, is the only player the Heat added in this year’s draft. Miami did not have a second-round selection.

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The news of Achiuwa’s signing comes one day after All-Star center Bam Adebayo, who was drafted by Miami with the 14th overall pick in 2017, committed Tuesday to sign the most expensive contract in franchise history. Adebayo agreed to a five-year, $163 million contract extension with the Heat, which begins in the 2021-22 season and could end up being worth as much as $195 million.

The Heat’s current salary-cap breakdown for this upcoming season looks like this: Jimmy Butler ($34.4 million), Goran Dragic ($18 million), Andre Iguodala ($15 million), Kelly Olynyk ($12.6 million), Meyers Leonard ($9.7 million), Avery Bradley ($5.7 million), Adebayo ($5.1 million), Tyler Herro ($3.8 million), Moe Harkless ($3.6 million), Achiuwa ($2.6 million), Duncan Robinson ($1.7 million), Kendrick Nunn ($1.7 million), Udonis Haslem ($1.6 million cap hit), KZ Okpala ($1.5 million) and Chris Silva ($1.5 million). In addition, a $5.2 million waive-and-stretch cap hit for Ryan Anderson is still on Miami’s books, as well as a $350,000 waive-and-stretch cap hit for AJ Hammons.

Add all that up, and the Heat has about $124 million of guaranteed salary committed to 15 players for this upcoming season with the 2020-21 salary cap set at $109.140 million. Miami’s roster is basically full with 15 players under standard contracts, which is the NBA regular-season limit.

The Heat is now about $8 million from the tax line of $132.627 million. That gives Miami some cushion for a potential trade if it wants to take in more salary than it sends out (within cap rules) at the trade deadline or before then.

The Heat did not bring back forward Jae Crowder, Derrick Jones Jr. and Solomon Hill this offseason. Miami replaced those three by adding Bradley and Harkless in free agency, and drafting Achiuwa.

In addition, Dragic, Haslem and Leonard agreed to return to the Heat this offseason in free agency.

Achiuwa, Bradley, Dragic, Harkless and Leonard have all signed their new contracts with the Heat. Haslem is the lone offseason commitment (not including training camp invites and two-way contract players) who has not signed his contract yet, but he’s expected to do so in the coming days.

The Heat’s roster is basically full with 15 players under standard contracts, which is the NBA regular-season limit.

But teams are allowed to carry up to 20 players during training camp and the preseason. With guard Gave Vincent returning on a two-way deal, Miami now has 18 players on its roster (15 under standard contracts, Vincent under a two-way contract and the recent additions of undrafted forward Paul Eboua and undrafted guard Breein Tyree on Exhibit 10 contracts).

On Wednesday, the Heat signed Eboua and Tyree to their Exhibit 10 contracts, which include an invitation to training camp. Exhibit 10 deals do not count against the salary cap or luxury tax and can be converted to two-way contracts.

Eboua, an athletic 6-8 forward from Cameroon, has played internationally in each of the past four seasons. He appeared in 18 games (12 starts) last season with VL Pesaro of the Lega Basket Serie A (Italy), averaging 7.4 points and 5.3 rebounds while shooting 45.9 percent from the field. Eboua, 20, scored in double-digits seven times and grabbed double-digit rebounds twice.

Tyree, a 6-2 combo guard who went undrafted last week, averaged a team-leading 19.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.3 steals while shooting 42.6 percent from the field, 36 percent from three-point range and 82.2 percent from the foul line in 31 games (30 starts) as a senior at the University of Mississippi last season. Tyree, 22, was named to the All-SEC First Team by the coaches and to the All-SEC Second Team by the Associated Press.

The COVID-19 pandemic-shortened 72-game NBA regular season is set to begin Dec. 22. Individual workouts are expected to begin Tuesday, with the start of full training camp practices to follow a few days later.