Is it time for the Miami Heat to cash in on Rodney McGruder?

With Miami Heat swingman Rodney McGruder killing it so far this season, is it time for the team to start investing in him?

It hasn’t been all doom and gloom for Miami Heat fans across the globe to start the season.

As of today, the Heat are holding a 3-4 record.

Sure, it’s not the nice start Sacramento Kings fans are celebrating, but those wins were well earned and were on the backs of franchise cornerstones like Hassan Whiteside (who has really stepped it up recently), Goran Dragic (who scored his 10,000th career point on Saturday, October 27 versus the Trailblazers), Josh Richardson (who is clearly the face of the future), and swingman Rodney McGruder (stay tuned).

In fact, I’ve typed McGruder’s name so much in the past two weeks, that my phone has started to fill it in for me.

All good things come to an end with either recognition or punishment though.

What you call it depends on your point of view in the situation.

For McGruder, this is his third ballclub.

After not being able to stick in Oklahoma City or Boston, the four-year collegiate athlete seems to have found not only a roster spot, but a home in Miami, when he signed a three-year, $3.4 million deal in 2016.

As Dwyane Wade will tell you, Father Time is undefeated.

This season marks the end of that contract and the beginning of restricted free agency.

Unless president Pat Riley gets out in front of it, of course.

Experiencing Tyler Johnson 2.0 in the summer of 2019 would shatter the fanbase, as well as owner Mickey Arison’s pockets.

So to avoid a restricted free agency nightmare, it makes sense for both parties to explore contract extension possibilities. A reward if you will, for The Scavenger’s dedication to getting back healthy and improving his on-court skill enough, to make an immediate impact so far this season is due.

Recently, Miami Heat beat writer Ira Winderman tweeted that McGruder may be in line for a Josh Richardson type of extension.

Let’s dive a little deeper, shall we?

This season, the Heat have the highest payroll.

Whether that is on purpose, we weren’t supposed to notice since the team is meant to play better, or Riley is washed up, the salary cap is indeed an issue and will be for the next couple of years.

In September of 2017, Richardson signed a four-year, $42 million extension with a player option in the fourth year.

These numbers were nearly the maximum a player of his experience could sign for at the time.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement states the contract for a player on a three or four-year deal, is eligible for an extension on the second anniversary after the contract is signed. There was some negotiation involved since Richardson wasn’t able to get the full max of an 120 percent increase in the first year of the extension, nor was he able to get the full 8 percent pay raise from year to year.

Since Richardson’s initial deal was three years in length, the Heat were able to use Bird rights to go over the salary cap to extend him. This is a crucial step for all teams trying to set themselves up to be able to retain a player they like, without the cap becoming an issue.

Teams will get a player on a three-year veteran’s minimum deal (which applies to second round pick rookies also), so that if he does break out, they’re in a position to make an extension offer before the vultures begin to circle.

Since the Heat are so drastically over the salary cap next season and the season after, I decided to do some math based on Rodney McGruder getting the exact same offer Richardson agreed to a few years ago, and how it’d affect the cap if Riley didn’t move any players.

Richardson saw an 119 percent bump to start the extension, with annual pay increases of 7.8 percent, 6.9 percent, and 7.4 percent for his option year.

Here’s what McGruder’s numbers would look like starting in the fall of 2019: $10.52 million, $11.34 million, $12.12 million, and $13.01 million.

Richardson’s contract contributes to the Heat’s payroll for this season ($158,203,135) which puts the team $56.33 million over the cap of $101.87 million.

This is before McGruder’s extension even kicks in.

At least the front office would be able to look forward to 2020-21, where the cap is projected to bump up another $9 million from the year prior to $118 million, and a few players come off the books, except for the player options of James Johnson ($16 million), and Kelly Olynyk ($12.2 million).

Inject McGruder’s make-believe $11.33 million salary, and that number goes up to $81.53 million tied up, leaving $36.51 million left to “chase.”

Bam Adebayo is set to make $5.1 million, but because he will be eligible for an extension, I doubt he would make it to that number, without having a deal in place.

In the summer of 2020, the Heat will have $70.2 million already allocated to returning players and only two guards on the roster (Waiters and Richardson).

When you factor in that they’ll have eight rosters spots to fill with that money, you’ll probably think, “Man, it’s not looking good.”

But all in all, Rodney McGruder deserves all the new money he has coming to him.

I just hope he continues to play as if it costs him money, if he doesn’t perform on the court.