The Heat have issued qualifying offers to two of their three two-way players, announcing in a press release that they’ve made forward Cole Swider and guard Alondes Williams restricted free agents. Miami’s other two-way player, forward Jamal Cain, isn’t mentioned in the announcement, with Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald tweeting that Cain isn’t expected to receive a qualifying offer.
Because Cain has finished each of the past two seasons on a two-way contract with the Heat, his qualifying offer would have been a one-year, minimum-salary contract with a small partial guarantee, whereas the QOs for Swider and Williams will be for one-year, two-way deals.
According to Chiang, the expectation is that Cain won’t be back with the Heat next season. Not getting a QO means he’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
We have more qualifying offer news from around the NBA:
- It appears that guard Trevelin Queen will be the only Magic two-way player to receive a qualifying offer this offseason. Orlando put out a press release (via Twitter) confirming that Queen has been given a QO, making him a restricted free agent. However, swingman Kevon Harris won’t get a QO and Admiral Schofield – who also wasn’t mentioned in the Magic’s announcement – has signed to play in France next season. Harris and Schofield both would’ve been eligible for minimum-salary qualifying offers, while Queen’s QO is for another two-way contract.
- The Warriors aren’t tendering a qualifying offer to guard Lester Quinones, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Quinones will become an unrestricted free agent after averaging 4.4 points per game on .397/.364/.690 shooting in 37 appearances off the bench for Golden State.
- The Hawks have made a qualifying offer to guard Seth Lundy, tweets Scotto. Lundy, who was on a two-way contract this past season, had a strong year in the G League, averaging 20.4 points per game and making 40.0% of his three-point attempts in 25 regular season and Showcase Cup contests for the College Park Skyhawks. His qualifying offer is the equivalent of another two-way deal.
- The Rockets are issuing a two-way qualifying offer to shooting guard Jeenathan Williams, according to Scotto (Twitter link). Williams appeared in 22 games for Houston and 10 for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in the G League in 2023/24.
- Nuggets two-way players Collin Gillespie and Braxton Key aren’t expected to get qualifying offers from the team, so they’ll become unrestricted free agents when the new league year begins, sources tell Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette (Twitter link).
Cain should be on the main roster, and take Highsmith’s spot, and then they still need someone else there…I don’t get why they wouldn’t keep Cain, but gave Swider a QO, when he shouldn’t have made the roster last year over Drew Peteraon or Justin Champagnie
Another dumb move by Dumbleavy to let Quninones go. He’s a young Klay Thompson. Some other team is going to get a potential star for a minimum salary.
He wasnt used right, but GS also has a bunch of potential 2 way guards now, so there isn’t really a spot for him as of now. You’re probably moving off a guard or 2 as it already is
If i have a real bad team like Pistons or Hornets Quninones is a good player as a bench asset. He can score and play enough D not to hurt you.
LOL !!!
He’s an OLD Klay Thompson (.397/.364/.690)
Lindy Waters
There’s a whole lot of players out there exactly like Quinones. It’s no real loss.
GSW appears to be (thankfully) prioritizing defense amongst its role players, a thing that sunk them last year. If they add PG13 and then like, all +defensive players to pair with Steph and Dray, this will be a great team…love the idea of Dray, Steph, Kuminga, Moody, TJD, Waters and Post adding PG13 and then someone like Marcus Smart. Make the defense happen behind Curry, and the titles will pour in…