Nikola Jovic got a payday from the Miami Heat in the form of a 4-year, $62 million rookie extension. It didn't come as much of a surprise that the team extended him... at least for Heat fans, who watched him have a career year as a 21-year-old in 2024-25, and expect him to get considerably better in the coming years. For non-Heat fans — specifically Bill Simmons, apparently — this move was less than inspiring.
Simmons said of the Jovic extension on the latest episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast:
"Is this going to be in our worst contracts draft... in Early March?... He's played 107 of a possible 446 games... I just thought... Now that we're in the second apron era, I thought teams would start to be way more careful about these guys that aren't impact guys..."
Sure, I understand the foundation of his argument; the Heat are paying a guy who has missed a lot of time in his three NBA seasons. But did he misread and think they're paying Jovic $162 million dollars or something? That's the only way I can think that paying a 22-year-old, 6-foot-10 forward who can handle and shoot would be the "worst contract" on any list.
What's the absolute worst-case scenario with this deal? That Jovic becomes an end-of-bench guy and the Heat eat $16 million a year? Okay, whatever. Terance Mann is making $15 million next year. Zach Collins is making $18 million. Almost $20 million for Collin Sexton.
The point is, fine NBA players are still going to get paid, and pearl-clutching over a four-year extension for a guy who was always going to be a project (and is probably ahead of schedule right now) is so odd. If Jovic stays pretty much the same player for the next four years, this would be a minor overpay. That's about it.
Nikola Jovic is going to get much, much better
And isn't that sort of the point of signing young players to contracts in the first place? Because teams think they'll perform better in the future than they did in the past? Last time I checked, yes, that's how this all works. And if that's the case with Jovic, this could quickly turn into one of the most team-friendly deals in the league. Maybe that's what Bill meant (it wasn't).
The Heat are high on Jovic, who enters 2025-26 as an obvious candidate to break out. Just don't tell Bill Simmons, apparently.