Report: Miami Heat essentially allowed Max Strus to walk

The Miami Heat didn’t go beyond their initial offer to Max Strus, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel (Twitter link).

Strus attracted plenty of attention on the free-agent market and Miami eventually agreed to a sign-and-trade with the Cavaliers that turned into a three-team swap. Strus wound up with a four-year, $63M contract, far more than the Heat were willing to pay him. The Heat received a traded player exception, worth about $7M, in the deal.

Miami did make a counteroffer for Gabe Vincent, Winderman adds, but it could not stop him from agreeing to a three-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers for more money.

We have more on the Heat:

• Orlando Robinson has signed a standard one-year, minimum-salary contract, but he has some work to do to earn the full value, Winderman tweets. There are conditional elements to the contract, including guarantee dates. One of those stipulations is that he must make the opening-night roster.
• The Brooklyn Nets have been contacted regarding the possibility of acquiring Tyler Herro in order to facilitate a Damian Lillard deal between the Trail Blazers and Heat, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald tweets. This confirms another report that the Nets were interested in Herro, whose four-year, $120M extension kicks in next season.
• Herro may be weary of hearing his name in trade rumors. For what it’s worth, he has removed “Miami Heat Guard” from the header on his Twitter feed and replaced it with “Slow motion,” NBA Central relays (Twitter link).
• Jamaree Bouyea, recently signed to a two-way contract, believes he can become the next Heat success story among undrafted players, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald tweets. Bouyea played on separate 10-day contracts with the Heat and Wizards as an undrafted rookie last year. “I like how they just invest, they invest in their young guys,” he said. “Obviously, they have a bunch of undrafted talent that got paid this offseason and offseasons before this, as well.”