The Miami Heat may have just gifted themselves the opportunity to have one of the best trade chips in the league after the decision to sign Nikola Jovic to a very fair contract extension.
Miami and Jovic officially agreed to a four-year, $64 million rookie extension. That will keep Jovic in a Heat uniform for the foreseeable future, but, perhaps most importantly, it puts the Heat in the driver's seat for what many are expecting to be a breakout season for the young player.
The Heat will now control Jovic's future, and while I don't think the Heat signed this extension in order to trade him, Miami will now own what could end up being one of the best contracts in the league. If Jovic does have the breakout season many are anticipating, it would give the Heat another blue-chip trade asset.
Considering the Heat haven't had many of those types of assets over the years, this could prove to be a huge development for the franchise. Maybe this season, but in a few years, Jovic could end up emerging as a strong trade piece for the Heat.
What this extension means for Jovic's future
But let's table that for a minute. While that could end up being one of the small victories for Miami after agreeing to a new deal with Jovic, it's pretty clear that's a down-the-road type of possibility.
For this season, this move from the Heat does give us great insight into what we should probably expect from Jovic. And the bottom line is this: The Heat don't sign Jovic to this kind of deal unless he's going to be the starter. This contract extension is a starter-level type of deal.
Especially with how he approached media day to open training camp, it would be surprising if Jovic wasn't the night one starter next to Bam Adebayo.
Perhaps there's a chance that the Heat decides to play big with Jovic at the small forward position, alongside both Bam and Kel'el Ware, but I think the most likely scenario is that Bam is going to go back to the 5, and Jovic will start at the 4.
The biggest message that the Heat sent by signing Jovic to this contract extension is that they believe in him.
Objectively, the Heat needed to sign Jovic to a long-term extension before he could hit restricted free agency next summer, especially if they believed he was a breakout candidate. This is a great move for the Heat, for both right now and into the future.
At best, the Heat just locked up a budding young star. At worst, Miami may have just added another huge trade chip to its asset chest.