Tyler Herro arrived on the Miami Heat’s media day on Monday ready for the query.
So when requested in regards to the Oct. 17 deadline to achieve an settlement on a rookie-scale extension, the fourth-year guard supplied a secure, milquetoast response.
“I’m just focused on the season and basketball,” he mentioned from the rostrum at FTX Arena. “I’m going to let my agent take care of that.”
But throughout a second of candor on the Heat’s ongoing coaching camp on the Baha Mar resort, away from the glare of cameras, there was larger candor.
He is concerned — or not less than has been concerned.
And, sure, the cash issues.
“I was active early in the summer,” he informed the South Florida Sun Sentinel of the extension window that opened in July. “Then I noticed it wasn’t going to get performed, if it does get performed, till later. So I simply informed my agent to name me when it’s prepared.
“So we haven’t really spoken much about the contract. Obviously, I tell him to call me when it’s ready. If it’s not ready, I continue to play my game and figure it out next summer.”
That could be the following step within the absence of an settlement over these subsequent three weeks, with the defending NBA Sixth Man of the Year in any other case to turn into a restricted free agent July 1.
To Herro, it’s a comparatively fundamental equation.
“We both know my worth,” he mentioned of himself and the Heat. “I want to be in Miami, but it’s got to make sense for my family.”
Only it’s not so easy.
Once prolonged, Herro primarily can’t be traded till subsequent offseason, due to an arcane “poison-pill” rule that might hinder nearly all commerce permutations beneath the NBA wage cap.
Herro acknowledged he was not absolutely acquainted with that side, however mentioned he additionally believed it greatest to keep away from such deep dives.
What he does respect is his market worth.
“There’s players across the league that have gotten paid who I know I’m better than. So it’s got to be the right number,” he mentioned, with the Heat persevering with camp on makeshift courts on the resort’s conference heart.
Among current extensions which have been used as technique of comparability have been the four-year, $107 million, incentive-laden contract signed this summer time by the New York Knicks’ R.J. Barrett, the four-year, $90 million extension signed final October by the Phoenix Suns’ Mikal Bridges, the four-year $107 million extension beforehand signed by the Boston Celtics’ Jaylen Brown, in addition to four-year offers within the $75 million vary signed by the Brooklyn Nets’ Joe Harris, the Dallas Mavericks’ Tim Hardaway Jr., the Houston Rockets’ Eric Gordon and the Knicks’ Evan Fournier.
“I don’t want to go anywhere,” Herro mentioned. “But, like I mentioned, it’s received to make sense for my household. I’m not speeding to get something performed. I’m nonetheless on my rookie contract, and the cash doesn’t kick in till subsequent summer time. So on the finish of the day, it’s received to make sense for me.
“So, like I said, I’m not in a rush.”
Still, there may be that clock that continues to tick. Once the season opens, neither the Heat nor Herro can speak contract.
And whereas the Heat would have proper the match outdoors affords for Herro as a restricted free agent, there additionally must be ample outdoors cash, with the wage cap poised to make a significant soar in 2023-24.
Of course free company would take Herro, 22, again to his days at Whitnall High School in Greenfield, Wis., the place he acquired recruiting pitches from Marquette, DePaul, Oregon State and Arizona State earlier than backing out of a dedication to Wisconsin to as an alternative play at Kentucky. He was drafted out of Kentucky as a freshman at No. 13 by the Heat in 2019.
So Recruiting 2.0 as a free agent?
“I mean, I think that’d be cool,” he mentioned of being on the focal point like so many earlier NBA free brokers. “But it’s nothing I want to do. My home is Miami. I want to be here. Since I’ve gotten here, we went to the [NBA] Finals and the Eastern Conference finals in three years.”
()
Source: www.bostonherald.com