When the Heat signed Kelly Olynyk to a four year, $50MM contract this offseason, the team had to structure bonuses into his contract as a means to fit his first-year salary within the rules of the CBA. So with a current cap hit of $10.6MM, Olynyk could actually see his salary increase to $11.6MM if he reaches a $1MM bonus for playing at least 1,700 minutes during the regular season.
Per Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel, Olynyk only needs – barring injury – to average 18.2 minutes per game for the remainder of the season to reach the bonus, well below his 23.4 per game season average. And while it may be difficult for Olynyk to keep that pace given the emergence of Heat rookie Bam Adebayo and the recent focus of more playing time for Hassan Whiteside, he doesn’t seem to mind too much.
“I mean, it’s obviously nice to get,” he said. “But it’s not something that you’re stressing about or striving toward. You want to be able to play minutes to help the (Heat) succeed, to help the team win, and whatever comes with that, comes with that.”
There’s more out of the Southeast Division:
- In an extensive Q&A with Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer, Hornets head coach Steve Clifford touched upon a number of subjects, including why the roster talent hasn’t translated to wins, the progress of rookies Malik Monk and Dwayne Bacon, and whether Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is back to form after recovering from two seperate shoulder surgeries.
- Despite currently sitting at fourth place in the Eastern Conference, the Wizards are only a mere five games ahead of ninth-place Detroit and must be careful not to slip out of the playoff race, authors Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. Washington has the toughest remaining schedule in the East and third-hardest in the NBA, according to BasketballReference.com, so as Buckner writes, the team has little room for error.
- Dwyane Wade is back in Miami, and for four of the Heat’s youngest players, this is welcome news, reports Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Josh Richardson, Tyler Johnson, Justise Winslow, and Whiteside all have fond memories of their time with Wade the first time around, and they reveal what they learned most from Wade when asked how he most helped their game/career.
Olynyk doesn’t spend money he won’t miss it if he doesn’t get it
Heat have Whiteside and Bam, yes, however Olynyk is having a low key career year. I honestly think you have to give him regular minutes still.
Steve Clifford is a really good coach, everything he said makes so much sense.