The Miami Heat have several non-guaranteed contracts on the books with important upcoming dates. We’ll take a look at who may be on the chopping block as the summer progresses.
Guarantee dates are a part of doing business in the NBA as the summer winds on. For the lower classes of the league on non-guaranteed or partially-guaranteed contracts, each date that passes with you still on a roster ensures yet another pay-day. For the Miami Heat, several players are awaiting such a date.
In fact, three players on minimum contracts are awaiting an August 1st date. Derrick Jones Jr., Kendrick Nunn and Yante Maten are all hoping no bad news befalls them before the beginning of next month.
For Jones, his full $1.6 million 2019-20 salary becomes guaranteed on that date. Maten was already guaranteed $100,000, and another $50,000 kicks in if he is still on the team. As for Nunn, he was already guaranteed $50,000, and it kicks up to $150,000 if he makes it through August 1st.
Duncan Robinson would have been in this class as well, but his Summer League performance earned him a full guarantee of his $1.4 million contract for the rest of the season.
For most non-guaranteed contracts, the summer is just the first step of several gauntlets to run through. While Jones has no date to concern him after August 1st, Maten and Nunn are a different story.
Maten gets another $150,000 guaranteed on opening night, bringing his total to $300,000, with another $150,000 kicking in on December 1st, and the rest of his $1.4 million guarantees on January 10th, 2020, if he is still on the roster.
Nunn gets another $300,000 guaranteed on opening night, bringing him to $450,000 total if he starts the regular season on the roster, and like Maten the remainder of his $1.4 million salary guarantees on January 10th.
Once you get through this season, however, that’s just one part of the puzzle. They have to do it all again next season, as Jones has an expiring contract and will be a free agent next season, and Maten, Nunn and Robinson all have non-guaranteed contracts will multiple guarantee dates in the 2020-21 season.
For the players outside of the star and typical rotational and role player classes, life isn’t easy when it comes to your money. Derrick Jones Jr., Yante Maten and Kendrick Nunn are living through that even as you read this.