Considering the recent exploits of one Dion Waiters, it might be safe to assume that he is on his way out of South Beach. If the Miami Heat could somehow manage to trade him and his $12.1 million salary, attaching a second-round pick if necessary and while only taking back a maximum of $5.537 million or less, they would then have the necessary money to convert Silva’s contract.
While you need an open roster spot to do this, that isn’t a problem for the Miami Heat because even with Macon and Silva, they only have 16 on the roster. Silva would technically be the 15th man, while the minimum salary of $898,310 that it would take would be accounted for in the salary return of a potential Dion deal as described above.
To take it even deeper than that, the Miami Heat could get things accomplished with a slightly different approach as well. Being that two-way players can go a maximum of 45 days, that December 23rd date we discussed, that maximum day allotment would be met the day the Miami Heat play their 35th game of the season, a game against the Utah Jazz.
With only 47 games left in the season at that point, the prorated amount of a rookie free agent minimum salary equates to around $514,885 dollars, even less than the almost $900,000 of a full season’s minimum deal for a first-year guy. Knowing what we know about Pat Riley and his cap savviness, this is almost certainly the way he would play it.
Regardless of how they might go about getting it done, they need to seriously consider doing it. Not only can Silva help this year, but he looks like he could be one of those guys that are helping for years to come, he reeks of the Heat Culture.
With a little bit of UD to his game and his approach, it only seems right. In converting Silva’s contract you would be adding a valuable asset to the bench for depth while also giving him the optimal opportunity to soak up all he can from the real Udonis Haslem while he’s still there.
Get it done Riles! Please?