P.J. Tucker intrigue begins ahead of June 29 deadline to decide on player option with Heat

The busiest part of the NBA offseason has begun, with the NBA Draft scheduled for Thursday and teams and players needing to decide on contract options in the coming days ahead of free agency.

The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported on Monday that veteran forward P.J. Tucker made his decision, choosing to opt out of his $7.4 million player option with the Miami Heat for next season to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Although the expectation is that Tucker will opt out to enter free agency, a source close to the situation told the Miami Herald on Monday night that he has not yet formally made a decision on his player option. Tucker, who turned 37 in May, has until June 29 to make his decision official.

Whatever happens, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra and president Pat Riley both made it known they want Tucker back next season.

“Tuck is the kind of player that doesn’t have to do a lot from a scoring standpoint, but he makes so many great plays for you,” Riley said in early June after the Heat’s season came to an end in the Eastern Conference finals. “He is like a cornerstone for us. Toughness, rebounding, defense, no nonsense guy. I’d love to have Tuck back next year. He’s part of our core and we’ll see what happens.”

The Heat isn’t on track to have cap space and doesn’t hold Tucker’s Bird rights, so there is a limit to what it can offer him if he decides to become a free agent this offseason, as expected:

▪ One option is to use the non-Bird exception to offer Tucker a contract with a starting salary of up to $8.4 million that can be from one to three seasons long.

▪ The Heat could also offer Tucker up to the the full $10.3 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception to re-sign him to a contract that could be from one to three seasons long, but using that exception would hard cap the Heat at the apron that’s expected to be at around $155 million.

According to ESPN analyst and former Nets executive Bobby Marks, the market outside of Miami for Tucker is in the $6 million to $8 million range.

“He was so important all across the board,” Spoelstra said in late May. “That competitive spirit, his competitive will, his consistent toughness that you can just count on every single day. And he has a way of communicating that and inspiring everybody in the locker room that is so genuine. If you’re just observing it from the outside, you’re like: ‘Wow, that’s intense.’ But to everybody in the locker room, it’s a really special genuine feeling when you have somebody that is that committed to winning and helping other guys.

“He’s so unselfish as a player, always taking on the biggest challenges. Defensively, he’ll do all the little things, the dirty work, the tough things and never complain about it. He never complains or talks about his shots. He’s just completely selfless.”

Along with Tucker having the option to enter free agency, there are five players from the Heat’s season-ending roster who will become free agents this summer: Dewayne Dedmon, Udonis Haslem, Markieff Morris and Victor Oladipo will be unrestricted free agents, and Caleb Martin will be a restricted free agent as long as the Heat extends a $2.1 million qualifying offer to him ahead of free agency.

Tucker thrived as the Heat’s starting power forward this past season, as his combination of elite three-point shooting from the corners and defensive versatility at 6-5 and 245-pounds provided a skill set that complemented starting center Bam Adebayo’s game to solidify the Heat’s frontcourt.

Tucker averaged 7.6 points on 41.5 percent shooting from three-point range, 5.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 71 regular-season games (70 starts) in his first season with the Heat.

Free-agent negotiations across the NBA are expected to begin on June 30.