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Miami Heat: Meyers Leonard entering pressure-packed contract season

By Duncan Smith

MIAMI, FL - DECMEBER 20: Meyers Leonard #11 of the Portland Trail Blazers handles the ball during the game against the Miami Heat on December 20, 2015 at AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2015 NBAE (Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL - DECMEBER 20: Meyers Leonard #11 of the Portland Trail Blazers handles the ball during the game against the Miami Heat on December 20, 2015 at AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2015 NBAE (Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Meyers Leonard enters the last year of his contract in 2019-20, and he’ll look to impress the Miami Heat and the rest of the NBA to set up his next deal.

Contract seasons can be a wonderful thing or a terrifying thing in the NBA, both for the player and the team concerned. In the case of the Miami Heat this coming season, they’ll have the rather burdensome contract of Meyers Leonard coming off the books at season’s end and they’ll clear some salary cap space for next summer.

With a salary of $11.3 million next season, Leonard is in the final year of a four-year, $41 million contract signed in 2016 with the Portland Trail Blazers. A beneficiary of the massive cap spike in 2016 when the league salary cap jumped from $70 million to $94 million, Leonard will be looking to set himself up with another big pay-day once this deal comes to a conclusion.

While Leonard didn’t quite live up to the production expected from a contract like his, he should have plenty of opportunities to shine on a big stage in Miami. He’ll provide relief for starting center Bam Adebayo and power forward Kelly Olynyk, and he should have the chance to display his premiere stretch-big 3-point shooting ability on a team which finished in the bottom third of the NBA in shooting a season ago.

Leonard shoots 38.5 percent from 3-point range in his career, and last season shot a spectacular 45 percent. He’s never scored more than 8.4 points per game, an average he hit in 2015-16 (which likely played a big part in him getting that big contract from the Blazers), but his strength has never been volume scoring, but rather efficient and opportunistic shooting.

His biggest downfall is health and availability. He has only played more than 61 games once since his rookie season in 2012-13. Leonard played 61 games last season, and two seasons ago he played just 33 games.

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While this contract is coming to an end in the summer of 2020, the Heat have the opportunity to clear the books, but Leonard could earn another pay day of equal or greater measure with either the Miami Heat or another team with a healthy campaign and his signature strong shooting.

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