Josh Richardson’s extension further clarifies Pat Riley’s master plan

Josh Richardson’s extension hints at how Pat Riley plans to land his next star, and turn the Miami Heat into a contender in the Eastern Conference.

The Miami Heat and Josh Richardson have agreed on a four-year, $42 million contract extension, as first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The deal reflects Miami’s continuing investment in keeping their own players.

The deal kicks in next year and runs through the 2021-22 season. After making $1.5 million this season, Richardson’s next annual salaries will be $9.3 million, $10.1 million, $10.8 million and then $11.6 million (if he accepts the player option in the deal’s final year).

Richardson was drafted 40th overall in 2015–the same draft Justise Winslow was selected–and has developed into one of Miami’s core young pieces. His perimeter shooting and rangy defense make him a valuable two-way player who head coach Erik Spoelstra feels comfortable playing at the end of games.

When healthy, Richardson is one of the Heat’s most explosive players. His dunks can be electrifying, and his transition potential is something Spoelstra should want to tap into more next season. In two of Miami’s pressure-packed final three games, Richardson had five steals in the game. He started the final 13 games of the season in place of an injured Dion Waiters and recorded 18 blocks as a shooting guard.

Read More: Josh Richardson should start at small forward

At 6-foot-6 with a reported 6-foot-10 wingspan and a nice shooting stroke, Richardson is the prototype 3-and-D player. He also has the quickness and ball handling skills to attack close outs and finish at the rim, and the defensive instincts and hustle to create transition opportunities.

Richardson will have an opportunity to start at small forward this season, and is Miami’s best fit within the projected starting lineup of Goran Dragic, Waiters, James Johnson and Hassan Whiteside. Longterm, however, Richardson is still best lining up at guard, where is length presents more of a defensive advantage.

On it’s face, it’s a fair price to pay for Richardson, who led the league in 3-point shooting during the second half of his rookie season, and averaged 15 points per game in Miami’s final six games last season after he got healthy.

However, next season the Heat will be paying nearly $40 million to three shooting guards: Dion Waiters, Tyler Johnson and Richardson. That’s a lot to pay for a group that is without an All-Star.

As the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson points out, the Heat will have $115 million committed to nine players next season, well over the projected cap of $103 million. That leaves Miami capped out next summer, with the only tool to use being a cap exception.

Even if team president Pat Riley were to trade Tyler Johnson without taking any future salary back, that would leave the Heat with only $7 million in cap space and just eight players under contract.

Riley has historically looked at other teams’ players like green grass on the other side of the fence, but in the last two years he’s locked up his own players. Last summer, Riley awarded Whiteside with a max contract and matched the Brooklyn Nets’ offer sheet to keep Tyler Johnson. This summer, after striking out on Gordon Hayward, the team moved to re-sign Waiters and James Johnson and keep Wayne Ellington.

Read the tea leaves, though, and it seems Riley is filling the war chest for the next star player trade. The Heat didn’t have the goods to make a run at Kyrie Irving in part because players like Waiters and James Johnson aren’t eligible to be traded until December. By the trade deadline, however, everyone on the team will be trade eligible, and Riley has stocked the roster will plenty of moveable contracts.

The Heat will have six players next season making between $9 million and $19 million–that equates to several different ways to match a max salary. Of those six, five will be smack dab in them middle or about to enter their primes. I wouldn’t rule out any of them as a trade piece.

If a blockbuster trade doesn’t materialize for Riley, then he’s built a roster that, at the very least, can get better.

His veterans–Dragic, Whiteside and James Johnson–have fewer miles than players of their caliber typically have at their age, and Waiters and Olynyk are on the cusp of their primes. A young core of Tyler Johnson, Richardson, Winslow and Bam Adebayo provide bubbling potential at the ball handling, wing and big positions.

If Richardson blossoms in his third season, he could have commanded a more lucrative contract next summer than what the Heat signed him for. It may not seem like it now, but if the best-case scenario hits for any of Miami’s players (a big if), they will come at a bargain. It’s that sort of upside combined with long-term contracts that make the Heat a compelling potential trade partner.

Next: How does Josh Richardson score all his points?

It may seem the Heat are building a team destined for mediocrity. But without cap space or very many draft picks, Riley is relying on what–or who–his players can turn into in order to build the Heat’s next contender.