Heat adding former first-round pick Nassir Little. What it means for roster and cap crunch

The Miami Heat is adding a former first-round pick to its roster just one week before the start of training camp.

The Heat has agreed to a deal to add wing Nassir Little on a one-year contract, a league source confirmed to the Miami Herald.

While the terms of the contract had not been completely finalized as of Monday night, Little’s deal is expected to be partially guaranteed or non-guaranteed because of the Heat’s position against the ultra-punitive second apron. According to a source, the guarantees in Little’s new contract will be structured to keep the Heat below the second apron threshold when the deal is signed.

The Heat stood just $1.6 million away from crossing the second apron before the addition of Little. If Little was signed to a fully guaranteed one-year contract, his cap hit for the full season would have been more than $2 million — enough to push the Heat past the second apron.

If Little is kept on the roster for the entire season through all his guarantee triggers and the Heat doesn’t shed any salary in the coming months, Miami would end the season above the second apron.

By staying under the second apron for now, the Heat is still allowed to aggregate salaries in a trade or send out cash in a trade. But because Miami is already above the first apron, it can’t take back more salary in a trade than it sends out.

Little, 24, is not eligible for a two-way contract because only players with three or fewer years of NBA service are able to sign two-way deals.

Little (6-foot-6 and 220 pounds) grew up in Florida and attended high school in Orlando before playing one college season at North Carolina. He was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 25th overall pick in the first round of the 2019 draft.

Little spent the first four seasons of his NBA career with the Trail Blazers prior to being dealt to the Phoenix Suns last offseason as part of the three-team Damian Lillard trade. Little averaged 3.4 points, 1.7 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.2 steals and 0.2 blocks in 10.2 minutes per game while shooting 46 percent from the field and 21 of 70 (30 percent) from three-point range in 45 appearances (two starts) with the Suns last season.

During Little’s five-year NBA career, he has averaged 5.5 points, 2.9 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 0.3 steals and 0.4 blocks in 15.8 minutes per game while shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 33 percent on threes. Little’s best season came in 2021-22 with the Trail Blazers, when he averaged career-highs in points (9.8 per game), rebounds (5.6), assists (1.3), steals (0.6) and blocks (0.9) in 42 games (23 starts).

WHERE HEAT’S ROSTER STANDS

Following the addition of Little, the Heat’s roster is currently at 20 players — one under the 21-player preseason maximum.

The 15 players on standard contracts with the Heat for next season are Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Terry Rozier, Duncan Robinson, Haywood Highsmith, Kel’el Ware, Kevin Love, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Josh Richardson, Nikola Jovic, Thomas Bryant, Alec Burks, Pelle Larsson and Little.

The Heat’s three two-way contract players are Josh Christopher, Keshad Johnson and Dru Smith.

The Heat also has Isaiah Stevens and Zyon Pullin, who both went undrafted this year, signed to Exhibit 10 contracts. The Exhibit 10 deal is essentially an invite to training camp and protects them from being signed away by another team.

Stevens and Pullin are the only players who the Heat currently has signed to Exhibit 10 contracts, with Miami currently having enough room to add one more player to an Exhibit 10 contract. The Heat has until the day before the start of the regular season to decide whether to move these Exhibit 10 players to a standard/two-way roster spot or waive them.

NBA teams are allowed to carry up to 21 players under contract in the offseason and preseason. Rosters must be cut to a maximum total of 18 players (15 on standard contracts and three on two-way contracts) by the start of the regular season.

The Heat will hold media day on Sept. 30 at Kaseya Center in Miami before opening training camp at Baha Mar in the Bahamas on Oct. 1.