Nikola Jovic’s four-year, $62.4 million extension isn’t just a signal of how much the Miami Heat value their young big man. It is an admission that their next star acquisition will happen via trade rather than free agency.
Anyone paying attention to the NBA’s market trends will have seen this coming. Stars are seldom switching teams by leaving on the open market anymore. In the age of extensions, they are instead attempting to reach desired landing spots through trades.
The Heat’s most recent superstar target is proof. After joining the Golden State Warriors and then the Brooklyn Nets via free agency (sign-and-trade), he has since been traded to his past two locales.
Miami has clearly read the room in response to the latest wave of star exits.
The Heat’s cap-space plans are falling by the wayside
This is less about Jovic himself, and more about the length of his deal. Sure, he could still be part of a star-trade package, something the team no doubt considered during negotiations. But putting his money on the books past this season and next suggests the organization is pivoting away from the cap-space game.
Miami could have eked out over $30 million of spending power over the 2026 offseason if Andrew Wiggins declined his player option, or was traded this year for expiring money. Jovic’s extension negates that flexibility, all but guaranteeing the team will be operating over the cap.
This deal’s impact on 2027 is potentially even more telltale. The Heat were initially in line for over $90 million in cap space. That flexibility, though, was predicated on not paying, well, anyone. This includes Jovic.
Now, Miami can still theoretically get to $70-plus million in spending power with Jovic on the books. This again assumes the franchise doesn’t reinvest in any of its current other players before then—including Wiggins, Norman Powell, and Tyler Herro.
Miami’s next move could be the tell-all
Perhaps the Heat still travel down the path of prioritizing 2027 cap space. At the very least, the Jovic deal proves they’re not married to this direction.
The futures of Herro and Powell, specifically, will give us an even firmer grasp on their plans. Herro now sounds like someone expecting to sign an extension. And Miami has not ruled out extending Powell ahead of 2026 free agency, either.
Paying any one of them will just about submarine the Heat’s cap-space scenarios in 2027, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that their pursuit of their next superstar will unfold on the trade market. Not that we need this evidence.
Really, the Jovic extension, plus what’s shaping up to be a lackluster 2027 free-agency class, is all the proof we need.