This week will be a busy one in the NBA.
Trades will once again be allowed to take place starting Monday at noon, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
That will mark the start of an eventful week for the league, with other important dates approaching:
— The NBA Draft is Wednesday at 8 p.m. The Heat currently holds the 20th pick in the first round, but it does not own a second-round pick.
— Free-agent negotiations will begin Friday at 6 p.m.
— Most player/team option decisions have to be made by Thursday at 5 p.m., according to Tim Reynolds from the Associated Press. That will be center Kelly Olynyk's deadline to decide on his $12.2 million player option to return to the Heat for this upcoming season. The expectation is that Olynyk will opt-in to the final season of his contract with Miami.
— Free-agent signings will be permitted to start on Sunday at 12:01 p.m.
All of this will lead into a Dec. 1 start to training camps and a Dec. 22 start to the 2020-21 season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Each team will play a shortened 72-game schedule, with the full regular-season and broadcast schedules released at a future date.
As expected, the salary cap numbers for the 2020-21 season will remain flat with this past season's numbers ($109.140 million salary cap, $132.627 million luxury tax line) also used this upcoming season.
The Heat has six impending unrestricted free agents this offseason: Jae Crowder, Goran Dragic, Udonis Haslem, Solomon Hill, Derrick Jones Jr. and Meyers Leonard. Miami owns Bird rights with all six players, which allows NBA teams to exceed the salary cap in order to re-sign their own free agents.
Haslem announced Friday that he will return to the Heat for an 18th season. He's expected to sign a one-year, $2.6 million veteran minimum contract with Miami, but he would count only about $1.6 million against the salary cap and luxury tax in this scenario because of NBA salary-cap rules.
The Heat's current salary-cap breakdown for next season looks like this: Jimmy Butler ($34.4 million), Andre Iguodala ($15 million), Kelly Olynyk ($12.2 million player option), Bam Adebayo ($5.1 million), Tyler Herro ($3.8 million), Duncan Robinson ($1.7 million), Kendrick Nunn ($1.7 million), KZ Okpala ($1.5 million), Silva ($1.5 million), a projected $2.4 million cap hit for the 20th overall pick in this year's draft, a $5.2 million waive-and-stretch cap hit for Ryan Anderson that's still on the books, and a $350,000 waive-and-stretch cap hit for AJ Hammons.
Assuming Olynyk opts-in to the final season of his contract and the Heat keeps the player it selects with the 20th overall pick in Wednesday's draft, Miami will have about $85 million committed to 10 players (not including Haslem since he hasn't signed a contract yet) for next season with the 2020-21 cap set at $109.140 million. That means the Heat could create up to $22 million in cap space, including cap holds, if it renounces the rights to its six impending free agents.
The other, more likely alternative, would be the Heat operating as an over-the-cap team in order to preserve the Bird rights of its free agents and be able to exceed the salary cap to re-sign Dragic and Crowder. Miami could then augment the roster by signing a player with its $9.3 million mid-level exception or acquiring a player into a $7.5 million trade exception, and filling out the roster with minimum contracts like the one expected to go to Haslem.
The Heat currently stands about $47 million from the projected tax line (not counting Haslem yet). That's the amount of money Miami has to bring back its free agents since it owns their Bird rights.
Also, Miami can extend Adebayo's rookie-scale contract until Dec. 21 (the day before the start of the regular season), as he will earn $5.1 million next season in the final year of his rookie deal whether he signs an extension this offseason or not. The extension would begin in the 2021-22 season.
In subsequent seasons of the CBA, the salary cap and luxury tax threshold will increase by a minimum of three% and a maximum of 10% over the prior season. That means the salary cap for the 2021-22 season could be as low as $112.4 million and as high as $120 million, which is important for the Heat as it continues to work to preserve max-level cap space for what could be a loaded 2021 free-agent class that may be headlined by two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo
ESPN reported that the projected salary cap for the 2021-22 season is $112.4 million with a luxury-tax threshold of $136.6 million. In this scenario, the cap would increase by the minimum of three percent.
ESPN also reported tentative schedule for the 2020-21 season is: Dec. 22 opening night, March 5-10 All-Star break without an All-Star Game, May 16 end of the regular season, May 17-21 play-in tournament for the final playoff spots, May 22 first round of the playoffs begin, June 7 second round of the playoffs begin, June 22 conference finals begin, and July 8-22 NBA Finals.
The season will not be played in a bubble. It will be played in home arenas, with some teams hoping to host fans when games begin.
As for the Heat, planning continues for what games will look like at AmericanAirlines Arena. The organization's hope has always been to host some amount of fans for games this upcoming season, but a formal announcement or determination has not been made yet.
