Entire roster won’t return, but Heat opens free agency with commitments from Dragic, Leonard

It didn’t take long for the Miami Heat to begin making progress on its free agency plan.

Heat president Pat Riley has made it known since this past season ended two wins short of a championship in the NBA Finals that he wants to keep the core of the roster intact.

Riley wasn’t kidding.

Just one minute after free agent negotiations were allowed to begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, the Heat accomplished one of its biggest free agent priorities when veteran guard Goran Dragic announced his intention to re-sign with the team. Minutes later, center Meyers Leonard also agreed to re-sign with the Heat.

“I’d like to run this thing back,” Riley said to reporters earlier this week. “... If we do [bring most players back], then I think we’re going to be in rhythm and we have a team that has great chemistry. There’s not going to be a lot of learning.”

But the Heat’s entire 2019-20 roster won’t be returning, as high-flying forward Derrick Jones Jr. is leaving Miami to sign with the Portland Trail Blazers on a two-year, $19 million contract that includes a player option in the second year, a league source confirmed. With Miami not offering more than one season of guaranteed money to protect 2021 cap space, Jones took an offer that includes multi-year money if he exercises his player option for the 2021-22 season.

However, Dragic and Leonard took deals that include just one season of guaranteed salary to re-sign with the Heat.

According to a league source, the Heat will sign Dragic, 34, to a two-year, $37.5 million deal that includes an $18 million salary this upcoming season and a $19.5 million team option for 2021-22.

Leonard’s new contract with the Heat is a two-year, nearly $20 million deal with a team option in the second season, according to a league source.

Under the structure of Dragic and Leonard’s new contracts, both players are not allowed to be traded without their approval this upcoming season.

Both contracts accomplish two Heat objectives: One, bring back players from last season’s roster. Two, avoid committing guaranteed money past this upcoming season to help facilitate Miami’s plan to enter the 2021 offseason with max-level cap space for a loaded free agent class that could be headlined by two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.

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While negotiations were permitted to begin Friday evening, the Heat began courting Dragic before then.

The organization took out three billboards in Dragic’s home country of Slovenia — where he spent most of the offseason — with messages of appreciation ahead of free agency. Two of the billboards read (in Slovenian): “Your second family is always with you.” The other read (in Slovenian): “Son of Ljubljana [Dragic’s hometown]. Captain of Miami.”

The Heat also had mini-posters placed around his house in Slovenia.

“Hey, Miami. It’s nice to be back in a Miami Heat uniform,” Dragic said in video posted to his Instagram account shortly after committing to the Heat on Friday. “This morning I woke up and I saw all these posters around my house. What an amazing surprise. I can’t wait to get back to work. Let’s go Heat.”

Dragic was an important part of the Heat’s winning formula this past season, averaging 16.2 points on 44.1 percent shooting, 3.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists as Miami’s sixth man in the regular season. The reserve role was new for Dragic, who started 268 of the 282 regular-season games he played in with the Heat prior to 2019-20, but it helped to maximize his minutes and keep him fresh after he played in a career-low 36 games in 2018-19 because of right knee surgery.

Dragic then moved into a full-time starting role in the postseason, averaging a team-high 20.9 points on 45.2 percent shooting, to go with 4.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists in the first three rounds of the playoffs before tearing the plantar fascia in his left foot in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. But offseason surgery was not required, and Dragic recently said to The Athletic that he has since fully recovered from the painful injury.

Since the Phoenix Suns traded Dragic to the Heat in February 2015, he has averaged 16.6 points on 46 percent shooting, 3.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists in 341 regular-season games (271 starts) in six seasons with Miami. Dragic, who is preparing for his 13th NBA season, said last season that “I think I can still play three or four years easy.”

Leonard, who spent the first seven seasons of his NBA career with the Portland Trail Blazers before he was dealt to the Heat last year as part of the four-team Jimmy Butler trade, played two very different roles in his first season with Miami.

Before the NBA suspended the season on March 11, Leonard averaged 6.1 points while shooting 52 percent from the field and 42.9 percent on threes, 5.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 20.1 minutes through 49 games (49 starts) as a full-time starter for the Heat.

Then Leonard missed each of the 16 games prior to the league shutdown because of a sprained left ankle, and he was not in the starting lineup or rotation when the Heat’s season resumed in August. Leonard logged just 31 total minutes in three games during the Heat’s 21-game playoff run.

Leonard finished his first season with the Heat with regular-season averages of 6.1 points while shooting 50.9 percent from the field and 41.4 percent from three-point range, 5.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 51 games.

“Honored to be back,” Leonard wrote as part of an Instagram post after making his free-agent decision to return to the Heat. “The love for this organization and city is real. Back to business. Let’s get it.”

As for Jones, he leaves for the Trail Blazers after spending the past three seasons with the Heat. Jones averaged 8.5 points while shooting 52.7 percent from the field and 28 percent on threes, 3.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists and one steal in 59 regular-season games with the Heat last season.

But the Heat’s midseason trade that brought Jae Crowder and Andre Iguodala to Miami helped to minimize Jones’ role in the postseason. Jones, who won the Slam Dunk Contest during All-Star Weekend in February, averaged just 6.5 minutes of playing time in the playoffs compared to 23.3 minutes in the regular season.

With Dragic and Leonard choosing to re-sign Friday, the Heat has now received commitments from three of its six free agents. Veteran forward Udonis Haslem announced last week that he’ll return to the Heat for an 18th season, and he’s expected to sign a one-year, $2.6 million veteran minimum contract with Miami that would only count only about $1.6 million against the salary cap because of NBA salary-cap rules.

Jones is the lone Heat free agent who has made a commitment elsewhere so far.

The Heat’s other two free agents — Crowder and Solomon Hill— remain on the open market and still have decisions to make.

▪ There’s hope Crowder will return to Miami, but it depends on outside offers he receives from teams because the Heat is not expected to offer more than one season of guaranteed money as it works to protect 2021 cap space. Crowder is mulling his options and had not made a decision as of Friday night.

▪ The Heat was expected to have a conversation with Hill once free agency opened Friday, according to a league source. Although Hill played only limited minutes after he was traded to Miami in the middle of this past season, he had a consistent rotation role with the Memphis Grizzles before the deal. It’s tough to gauge what the market will be for Hill in free agency.

After receiving free agent commitments from Dragic, Haslem and Leonard, the Heat’s current salary-cap breakdown for this upcoming season looks like this: Butler ($34.4 million), Dragic ($18 million), Iguodala ($15 million), Kelly Olynyk ($12.6 million), Leonard ($9 million), Bam Adebayo ($5.1 million), Tyler Herro ($3.8 million), Duncan Robinson ($1.7 million), Kendrick Nunn ($1.7 million), Haslem ($1.6 million cap hit) KZ Okpala ($1.5 million), Chris Silva ($1.5 million), and the projected $2.6 million cap hit for Achiuwa. 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 $114 million committed to 13 players for this upcoming season with the 2020-21 salary cap set at $109.140 million. Miami’s roster is filling up fast, with teams only allowed to carry up to 15 players under standard contracts during the regular season.

Following commitments from Dragic, Haslem and Leonard, the Heat will operate as an over-the-cap team to preserve the Bird rights of its own free agents in an effort to bring more of last season’s roster back. Miami also has the ability to utilize a $9.3 million midlevel exception, a $3.6 bi-annual exception and a $7 million trade exception to add outside help.

The Heat entered free agency with Bird rights for all six of its free agents, which allows NBA teams to exceed the salary cap in order to re-sign their own free agents.

As an over-the-cap team, it becomes less about how much cap space the Heat has and more about how much room it has below the luxury tax line.

The Heat stands about $18 million from the tax line of $132.627 million after accounting for the commitments from Dragic, Leonard and Haslem. That’s the amount of money Miami has to bring back its own free agents, like Crowder, and use its exceptions before reaching the luxury tax threshold.

Two of the Heat’s targets with the $9.3 midlevel exception agreed to sign with other teams Friday: Forward Danilo Gallinari agreed to a three-year, $61.5 million deal with the Atlanta Hawks and guard Wesley Matthews agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Heat also filled a two-way contract spot Friday, signing guard Gabe Vincent to a two-way deal for a second consecutive season. Miami’s second two-way contract slot is still open.

Teams are allowed to carry up to 20 players during training camp and the preseason. With Vincent signing a two-way deal, Miami now has 14 players on its roster (13 under standard contracts and one under a two-way contract).

While free agent negotiations began Friday, free agent signings begin Sunday at 12:01 p.m.

There will be a quick turnaround for the entire NBA following free agency, with training camps opening in early December in advance of a Dec. 22 start to the 2020-21 season.