Miami Heat Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Heat Sign Orlando Robinson, Waive Dru Smith

December 11th, 2022 at 11:35am CST by Arthur Hill

The Heat have brought back center Orlando Robinson on a two-way contract and waived guard Dru Smith, the team announced (via Twitter).

Miami has switched the two players several times this season. Smith originally won a roster spot on a two-way deal, but he was waived in favor of Robinson on November 13 as injuries provided a need for more depth in the middle. Twelve days later, the Heat re-signed Smith to a two-way contract and unloaded Robinson to make room on the roster.

Robinson, a rookie out of Fresno State, appeared in two games during his first stint with Miami, averaging 7.0 points and and 4.5 rebounds in 20 minutes per night.

Smith saw limited playing time in five games, but made one start. He will likely rejoin Miami’s G League affiliate in Sioux Falls if he’s not claimed on waivers.

Stanley Johnson Joins Heat’s G League Affiliate

December 9th, 2022 at 7:59am CST by Luke Adams

Free agent forward Stanley Johnson has signed a contract to return to the G League and has officially joined a new team. The Sioux Falls Skyforce, Miami’s affiliate, announced in a press release that they’ve acquired Johnson from the NBAGL’s available player pool, waiving former South Dakota standout Tyler Hagedorn to complete the transaction.

The eighth overall pick in the 2015 draft, Johnson appeared in 48 games for the Lakers last season, starting 27 of them. He averaged 6.7 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 1.7 APG on .466/.314/.716 shooting in 22.8 minutes per contest.

Johnson’s contract included a minimum-salary team option for 2022/23, which the Lakers picked up, but he was flipped to Utah along with Talen Horton-Tucker later in the offseason in the trade that sent Patrick Beverley to Los Angeles. Johnson then became a victim of a roster crunch in Utah — the Jazz waived him at the end of the preseason when they had to reduce their roster to 15 players on standard contracts.

With no NBA opportunities presenting themselves since Johnson became an unrestricted free agent in October, he’ll head back to the G League to try to prove that he deserves another shot at the NBA level.

The 26-year-old began last season with the South Bay Lakers before earning a call-up. This time around, he’ll play for the Heat‘s G League affiliate. Although Sioux Falls now holds Johnson’s NBAGL rights, he remains an NBA free agent with the ability to sign with any team at any time.

Heat Have Expressed Interest In Reddish In Past

December 8th, 2022 at 1:45pm CST by Rory Maher

The Lakers, Heat and Bucks are among the teams that have expressed interest in Reddish since the Knicks acquired him from the Hawks in January, though that interest isn’t necessarily recent, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv. Begley also reports that that the Lakers and Knicks explored a deal this month that “would have required a third team to complete,” but it’s unclear if those talks involved Reddish.

Winderman: Oladipo's Return Not Enough To Fix Heat Bench

December 7th, 2022 at 7:59am CST by Luke Adams

Heat guard Victor Oladipo made his season debut on Tuesday night, taking the court for the first time since May and scoring nine points in 19 minutes off the bench. However, it will take more than Oladipo’s return to fix Miami’s second unit, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.

As Winderman outlines, with Tyler Herro and Caleb Martin promoted to the starting lineup, injuries affecting a handful of players, and the club unwilling to fill its 15th roster spot due to luxury tax ramifications, depth no longer seems to be one of the Heat’s strengths. Miami ranks 29th in the NBA in both bench scoring (26.6 PPG) and bench shooting (.420 FG%) so far this season.

Heat Notes: Oladipo, Butler, Lowry, Jovic, Martin, Highsmith

December 6th, 2022 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Heat guard Victor Oladipo has been upgraded to questionable for Tuesday’s game against Detroit, says Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald, noting that it’s the first time Oladipo has received that designation this season. The former All-Star has yet to appear in a game this fall due to left knee tendinosis, but it sounds like his debut is imminent.

If Oladipo is able to play on Tuesday, it would help the Heat make up for some other veteran absences. As Chiang writes, Jimmy Butler, who recently missed seven games due to a knee injury, has been ruled out for the second night of a back-to-back set as the club attempts to manage his workload.

A handful of players have also been listed as questionable, including Kyle Lowry due to left ankle discomfort, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (Twitter link). Lowry is the only Heat player who has yet to miss a game this season, but that streak appears to be in jeopardy.

Here’s more out of Miami:

Heat rookie Nikola Jovic didn’t shoot the ball well in his first game with the Sioux Falls Skyforce on Sunday, making just 3-of-12 shots from the field. But he appreciated the opportunity to play big minutes and wouldn’t object to another G League assignment, as Chiang relays for The Miami Herald. “It helps me a lot with my feel for the game,” Jovic said. “I can try to do things more than with the Heat because the ball is in my hands in Sioux Falls and it’s sometimes on me to work and try to get a shot. But when I’m with the Heat, I’m doing the same thing but it’s not on me to be that guy right now. I don’t know yet, but I think I’ll probably go back (to Sioux Falls) again and I think it’s a great thing for me.”
Asked to play power forward this season following P.J. Tucker‘s departure, Caleb Martin has expanded his game for the Heat, per Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Meanwhile, in his Miami Herald mailbag, Chiang wonders whether Martin’s skill set is being maximized in his current role.
Heat forward Haywood Highsmith didn’t initially realize that he had increased the partial guarantee on his contract to $700K last week, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. “I’m not going to lie. I didn’t realize it at all,” he said. “… I forgot. I thought it was in January. I should know those dates.” The rest of Highsmith’s $1.75MM salary for 2022/23 will become guaranteed if he remains under contract through January 7.

Southeast Notes: Young, Bogdanovic, Porzingis, Oladipo

December 4th, 2022 at 3:05pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

All-Star point guard Trae Young, who missed the Hawks‘ 117-109 victory over the Nuggets on Friday with a sore shoulder, is back with the team after not being present even on the Atlanta bench or home arena, writes Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (subscriber link).

“It was just miscommunication in that situation with Trae,” Hawks head coach Nate McMillan said, without offering further details. “Just as simple as that.”

Young and fellow All-Star guard Dejounte Murray have been a huge reason for the Hawks’ solid 13-10 start to the season. Through 21 healthy contests, the 6’1″ Young is averaging 27.8 PPG on .411/.303/.899 shooting splits, along with 9.6 APG, 2.9 RPG and 0.8 SPG.

There’s more out of the Southeast Division:

Hawks reserve guard Bogdan Bogdanovic appreciated the enthusiastic fan reception he received for his first game back from a knee surgery Friday, Williams writes in a separate piece (subscriber link). “I honestly think it was perfect because I didn’t expect (the reaction), honestly,” Bogdanovic noted. “When I was checking in, I was really calm, like I know what I’m going to do and what is my job, and I was ready. But then, I don’t know, I didn’t expect the ovations and the crowd going crazy… It made me nervous, honestly, like a little kid. That’s how I felt like the first two minutes and everyone’s trying to talk to me, I can’t hear nothing.” Though he scored a modest five points on Friday, the swingman certainly seems positive about his outlook going forward.
Wizards starting center Kristaps Porzingis has hired a new agent, reports Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News (Twitter link). Excel Sports agent Jeff Schwartz is the 7’3″ big man’s new rep, per Bondy. Porzingis, who has been enjoying a bounce-back season in his first full year with Washington, has a $36MM player option for 2023/24. Through 22 appearances, the 27-year-old is averaging 21.6 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 2.5 APG, and 1.5 BPG while shooting .470/.364/.800 from the floor for the 11-12 Wizards.
Heat guard Victor Oladipo is nearing a return from his injured knee, though the timeline is still somewhat up in the air. Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel writes that Oladipo seems optimistic that he could return as soon as this week. “I feel good, been moving a lot more,” Oladipo said. “Just going to make sure it’s the right thing, the right decision collectively. I’m not going to make a decision by myself. Just going to make sure everything feels good and I can perform at the highest level.”

Heat Notes: Health, Oladipo, Reserves, Big Four

December 4th, 2022 at 12:00pm CST by Luke Adams

At 11-12, the Heat remain below .500 for the time being, but with their lineup finally getting healthy, the team submitted a statement win over the Celtics in Boston on Friday night, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald, who suggests that it may be premature to rule out last year’s two Eastern Conference Finals teams meeting again in that series this year.

“We never lost confidence in this group, in ourselves,” Jimmy Butler said after the victory, Miami’s fourth in five games. “We know what we’re capable of. We just have to go out and prove it. We’re not worried about anybody else, just the guys in our locker room and coaching staff, ownership, management. We have a long way to go but we can get there.”

Given that the Heat are still outside of the playoff picture in the East, tied for ninth in the conference, they’ll need to show more to be widely considered a serious threat to make it to the Finals. But the players in the locker room aren’t worried about what outside observers think the team can and can’t do.

“You got to think about it, we were No. 1 in the East (last season) and people didn’t even pay us any mind,” Bam Adebayo said. “Then being where we’re at now, they’re definitely not talking about us. The biggest thing for us is just stacking up the wins.”

Here’s more on the Heat:

Victor Oladipo, who has been sidelined all season due to a knee injury, isn’t ready to offer a specific target date for his return, but said “hopefully soon” when asked when he might be ready to suit up, per Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. “We’ll see. It’s more of a day to day thing, how I feel and what we feel makes the best sense,” Oladipo said. “I trust our training staff and the people I work with as well, coming up with a solid plan and make sure I’m ready to go.”
Although Oladipo and Omer Yurtseven remain on the shelf, the Heat are otherwise relatively healthy after fighting a serious battle with the injury bug during the first quarter of the season. Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel examines whether a handful of Miami’s reserves, including Haywood Highsmith, Duncan Robinson, and Nikola Jovic, will continue to see regular playing time now that the depth chart isn’t quite so thin.
Friday’s win over Boston represented the first time in over a month that the Heat had Butler, Adebayo, Kyle Lowry, and Tyler Herro all available for the same game. As Winderman details in another Sun Sentinel story, head coach Erik Spoelstra is referring to that quarter as his “Big Four,” and they lived up to that moniker on Friday, scoring 99 of Miami’s 120 points.

Community Shootaround: Sub-.500 Playoff Hopefuls

December 2nd, 2022 at 1:23pm CST by Luke Adams

So far this season, 19 of the NBA’s 30 teams have played at least .500 basketball, and many of the clubs that have fallen short of that mark are ones we expected to do so. The Magic, Pistons, Hornets, Rockets, Spurs, and Thunder, for instance, were widely considered during the preseason to be lottery-bound.

If we set aside those six teams, along with the 19 who are .500 or better, five clubs remain. These are the teams that entered the season expecting to be in the playoffs and have fallen short of their expectations so far.

Let’s start with the most obvious one of the five: the Lakers got off to a miserable start to the season, losing their first five games and 10 of their first 12. They’ve bounced back to some extent as of late, winning six of their last eight contests, but three of those victories came against San Antonio, and L.A. is still just 8-12 overall, good for 13th in a competitive Western Conference.

With Russell Westbrook adapting well to a sixth man role, Lonnie Walker enjoying a breakout year, Anthony Davis looking like a superstar again, and LeBron James back in the lineup following a groin strain, there’s some reason for optimism in Los Angeles. But it’s still not clear if the supporting cast is strong enough for the Lakers to make a real run, and it remains to be seen whether the front office has the appetite to move one or two first-round picks to acquire real upgrades.

While they’re ahead of the Lakers in the standings, the 10-11 Mavericks are currently out of the play-in picture too, holding the No. 11 seed in the West. Like L.A., Dallas has a top-heavy roster, with Luka Doncic submitting an MVP-caliber performance this fall. But Doncic can’t do it all himself, and the Mavs’ supporting cast beyond Christian Wood and Spencer Dinwiddie hasn’t produced like the team had hoped.

Over in the East, the Heat (10-12), Knicks (10-12), and Bulls (9-12) find themselves out of the top nine and vying for the No. 10 spot in the standings.

Of these three teams, Miami probably has the most reason for optimism. The Heat have been hit hard by the injury bug in the first quarter of the season, but appear to be getting healthier, with All-Star forward Jimmy Butler on the verge of returning. This iteration of the Heat may not get back to the NBA Finals like the 2020 squad did, or even to the Eastern Finals like last year’s team, but it would be pretty shocking if they missed the postseason, given how much talent is on the roster.

Chicago and New York, meanwhile, were both considered borderline playoff teams entering the season — oddsmakers had them as the East’s ninth- and 10th-best teams ahead of training camps. So it’s perhaps not a surprise that they’re both hovering around .500 and looking more like play-in contenders than serious candidates for a top-six seed.

Still, both teams had higher aspirations than simply contending for a play-in spot, so it will be interesting to see how they approach the trade deadline if their inconsistent performances continue.

Will the Knicks put some of their future first-round picks back on the table in search of an impact player after missing out on Donovan Mitchell? Will the Bulls – who have already traded away two of their own future first-rounders – continue to push their chips into the middle of the table or will they pull back and hope for the possible return of point guard Lonzo Ball can help fuel a second-half surge?

We want to know where you stand on these five teams. Do you expect the Lakers, Mavericks, Heat, Bulls, or Knicks to finish the season as a top-six seed, securing an automatic playoff berth? Are you counting on some of them to have to clinch postseason spots via the play-in tournament? Will some finish outside the play-in altogether as bottom-five teams in their respective conferences?

Head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!

Highsmith Increases Partial Guarantee; Butler On Verge Of Return

December 2nd, 2022 at 7:51am CST by Luke Adams

It has been a good week for Heat forward Haywood Highsmith so far. He had his best game of the season on Wednesday in Boston, matching a career high with 16 points while chipping in eight rebounds, a pair of blocks, and a career-best four 3-pointers.

Additionally, by remaining on the Heat’s roster through Thursday, Highsmith saw his partial guarantee increase to $700K, tweets Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. Highsmith, whose full salary for the 2022/23 season is $1,752,638, will have that entire amount guaranteed if he’s not waived on or before January 7.

With Jimmy Butler – upgraded to questionable for Friday’s game – on the verge of making his return for the Heat following a seven-game absence, head coach Erik Spoelstra remains confident that better days are ahead for the sub-.500 club, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Even on that (Nov. 16-21) road trip, when we were 0-4, we showed incredible resiliency,” Spoelstra said. “And that’s when I started to think, ‘Alright, we’ve got something here, we do.’ Our record may be this, but we’re developing some requisite toughness, some collective grit, some collective resiliency to be able to deal with runs and deal with crowds, deal with all that kind of stuff.”

Injury Notes: MPJ, Hyland, Oladipo, Pelicans, Clippers, Holmgren

November 30th, 2022 at 2:58pm CST by Luke Adams

Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. (left heel contusion) will miss his fourth consecutive game on Wednesday, but Denver will get some reinforcements vs. Houston with Bones Hyland (non-COVID illness) set to make his return following a three-game absence, per Harrison Wind or DNVR Sports (Twitter links).

Hyland last played on November 22 and was hampered by his illness on that night, logging just nine minutes. The Nuggets guard said today that he “couldn’t breathe on the floor” during that game, but is “feeling great” now, according to Mike Singer of The Denver Post.

Here are a few more health-related updates from around the NBA:

Heat guard Victor Oladipo practiced with the team on Tuesday, but there wasn’t any contact during that session and he won’t play on the current road trip, which runs through next Monday, head coach Erik Spoelstra said today (link via Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel). While Oladipo hasn’t played yet this season due to left knee tendinosis, it sounds like he’s making progress toward a return.
Pelicans guard CJ McCollum has exited the NBA’s health and safety protocols, but will remain sidelined on Wednesday as he attempts to get back into game shape, tweets Andrew Lopez of ESPN. New Orleans did get some good news on Larry Nance Jr. — he’ll be available after missing Monday’s game with a right shoulder injury.
Still without Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and Luke Kennard, the Clippers added Norman Powell to their injury report for Wednesday’s game in Utah due to a left groin strain. Powell is doubtful to play, says Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN (Twitter link).
Thunder big man Chet Holmgren will undergo a follow-up procedure to remove the “hardware” in his right foot from his previous surgery, a team spokesperson tells Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. The procedure had been planned and is a sign that Holmgren is making progress, Mussatto adds.