The Heat have officially signed second-round pick Pelle Larsson to his first NBA contract, the team announced today in a press release.
Larsson was selected with the 44th pick in this year’s draft. The Rockets technically made the selection on Miami’s behalf, then sent the rookie’s rights to the Heat in a three-team trade that also involved the Hawks.
Larsson played three years of college ball at Arizona after spending his freshman season at Utah. In 2023/24, the 6’5″ wing averaged 12.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in 30.1 minutes per game across 36 starts for the Wildcats, with a strong .519/.426/.750 shooting line.
Terms of Larsson’s deal weren’t disclosed by the Heat, but Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (Twitter links) hears that the team used the second-round pick exception to give him a three-year contract that starts at the rookie minimum (approximately $1.16MM). That means he’ll occupy a spot on Miami’s 15-man roster and the club will hold an option on him for the 2026/27 season.
The deal will be fully guaranteed in 2024/25, with a significant partial guarantee in year two, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.
The Heat have been busy on the transaction wire in the last 24 hours. Besides finalizing Larsson’s contract, they also signed a trio of players to two-way deals and completed Kel’el Ware‘s rookie scale contract.
Pelle Larson is a perfect fit; literally exactly what I described they needed. There were some similar options on the board at the time as well, but this is the type of player that is the reason I was/am disappointed in the Ware pick.
He guards multiple positions at the 2/3, fights over screens, can actually guard above his size a little in post ups, recovers well, and can block shots, not as attentive off ball sometimes but can still help defend/get in some passing lanes/is in the right spots. He is a secondary playmaker that can make plays in pick and roll, and makes smart/early entry passes to bigs in transition/out of pick and rolls…knockdown catch and shoot guy.. really good at pumpfaking closeout and attacking the paint, midrange jumpshot, making the pass to the open guy…plays hard, is available in transition/as a cutter off the ball. Has a bit of a slow release with the shot though, but basically the dude is a winner
As a Knicks fan, I can’t stand the Heat, but what you say is true. This was a great pick for them. I was surprised he didn’t come off the board earlier.
Well, you probably couldn’t do better than what the knicks did over those couple of days, and I’m sure they’ll end up signing a floor spacing big, like Thomas Bryant, from the Heat, who will fit perfectly there