With their free agent acquisitions of Kelly Olynyk, Dion Waiters and James Johnson now in the books, the Heat can breathe easy knowing that they’ll soon retain Wayne Ellington, Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel tweets.
The Heat were very calculated about the order in which they officially signed the above-mentioned trio, doing so in such a way that they managed to keep Ellington on their books long enough for his partially guaranteed deal to kick in after July 7.
In 62 games for the injury-riddled 2016/17 Heat, Ellington averaged 10.5 points per game. The 29-year-old played a big role in Miami rallying after a disastrous first half of the season to compete for a playoff spot.
With Ellington on board for 2017/18, along with returnees Waiters and Johnson, the Heat have shown that they’re eager to double down on the gritty chemistry that powered them to their historic turnaround.
So they’re picking up the option, or did they resign him to a deal at the room exception?
Technically just a non-guaranteed salary, so it’s more just “not waiving him” rather than “picking up the option.” And they didn’t waive him. He’s still on the books under his $6MM+ salary and the Heat still have the room exception available.
Nice…I’m assuming they’re currently slightly over the cap, but well under the luxury tax?
They’ll be right at the cap after today’s deals. They’ll go over once they add anyone else using the room exception or minimum salaries, but should still end up way below the tax.
Well, ya, I was assuming the use of the minimum deals for someone like UD. I almost forgot that isn’t done yet lol…
Nice. The man with the golden arm had a great year last year, and got himself into really good shape. He’s making under market, so it was an obvious decision to keep him…now if Riley can make a move for a backup 5 with the room exception, or maybe add a 3/4, that would be nice, and hopefully take some of the sting out of the Olynyk mistake
“Ice cream!!” – Ellington in the photo.
Lol. looks excited