Salary cap limits the Miami Heat’s ability to retain Luol Deng and Joe Johnson

This is the second in a three part series examining the Miami Heat’s salary cap and off-season.

In the last article, I examined how the Miami Heat can re-sign Hassan Whiteside and Dwyane Wade. In this article, I examine the possibilities for retaining Luol Deng and Joe Johnson.

I previously showed how the Heat can retain Dwyane Wade for $17.5 million and Hassan Whiteside for $20 million.

Players Under Contract (8)	Cap Figure
Chris Bosh	$23,741,060
Goran Dragic	$15,891,725
Josh McRoberts	$5,782,450
Justise Winslow	$2,593,440
Josh Richardson	$874,636
Briante Weber	$874,636
Dwyane Wade*	$17,500,000
Hassan Whiteside*	$20,000,000
	$87,257,947

We also discussed how the Heat can renounce their rights to a player. In so doing, the player’s cap hold is removed.

To maximize cap room, we assume the Heat renounce rights to all unsigned players except Tyler Johnson.

The Heat just extended a $1.2 million qualifying offer to restricted free agent Tyler Johnson. Thanks to an obscure provision in the salary cap rules known as the Gilbert Arenas provision, other teams are limited in how much they can offer Johnson. For the first year of a contract, another team can only offer Johnson the mid-level exception for $5.9 million.

In addition to retaining the rights to Johnson, the Heat will have to use cap holds for an additional three potential players. The salary cap rules state that a team must have salary and cap holds for at least 12 players. If teams have salary and cap holds for fewer than 12 players, a cap hold is added at the amount of the rookie minimum salary for every player fewer than 12.

Players with Cap Holds (4)	Cap Hold
Tyler Johnson	$1,180,431
Place Holder 1	$543,471
Place Holder 2	$543,471
Place Holder 3	$543,471

This leaves the Heat with $4.4 million in cap room.

Between Luol Deng and Joe Johnson, Deng has to be a higher priority for the Heat. Deng likes the Heat and might take a pay cut to play for them. However, Deng’s play last year and the rising cap have increased his value. Deng can get at least $12 million on the open market.

Deng is likely looking for one last big payday. An offer of $4.4 million is not going to cut it. To offer Deng more, the Heat would have to find a trade partner for Josh McRoberts and his $5.8 million salary. Trading McRoberts would allow the Heat to offer Deng up to $10.2 million. A two year, $20 million contract, with player option for the second year might just be enough to keep Deng in a Heat uniform.

Can the Heat find a trade partner for Josh McRoberts? Over the past two years, McRoberts has been oft injured and, when not injured, has not played well. Of course, McRoberts did have a 19-point game this season and has a unique skill set. The Heat don’t have a sweetener like a draft pick to include with a McRobert’s trade. The Heat have already given away all the draft picks they are allowed. But, McRoberts is sufficiently skilled, like Mario Chalmers was, that the Heat might not need a sweetener.