As expected, veteran center Cody Zeller received a minimum salary when he signed a rest-of-season contract with the Heat on Monday, tweets Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Miami’s other Monday addition, however, received a deal worth more than the minimum.
When the Heat signed forward Kevin Love, they gave him what was left of their bi-annual exception, according to Chiang.
The team hadn’t used any of its $4.1M bi-annual exception so far in 2022-23, but the exception’s value has been declining daily since Jan. 10, so it had dropped to about $3.1M by the time Love signed.
That $3.1M more than makes up for the money Love gave up in his buyout agreement with the Cavaliers, which was $1.5M, per Keith Smith of Spotrac.
Interestingly, the Heat also had about $3M left on their mid-level exception, but chose to preserve that exception and use the bi-annual instead.
That means they won’t be able to use the BAE in 2023-24, since it can only be used once every other season. However, Miami projects to be a taxpayer next year, and the BAE isn’t available to teams over the tax apron, which is likely why the team was comfortable using it now.
Here’s more on the Heat:
“The more he does that, the less I have to do and that’s the goal,” Haslem said. “To get him into that leadership role and to be able to lead with his words, but also by example and even lift the level of play of everybody around you, which he has the ability to do. That’s just a powerful thing.”
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