The Miami Heat still have one more big decision to make before they can entirely shift their focus to the start of the new season. There's one argument to be made that this decision could lead to a nightmare that the team should be looking to avoid at all costs, and, as you'd expect, it revolves around Tyler Herro's extension.
Historically, the Heat likes to keep its own. If they develop a player, you rarely see them trade said player, unless it is in lieu of a superstar acquisition. Interestingly enough, that could be a criticism of the way the front office operates, but that's consistently been the team's philosophy of late.
For better or worse, Herro falls into that category for the Heat. Since selecting him with the 13th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, the Heat's fingerprints have been all over Herro's development. From a player who was expected to just give the Heat a 3-point shooting boost, Herro has blossomed into an All-Star for the team.
All that said, giving him a massive contract extension still wouldn't be in the best interest of the team. And, in fact, if the Heat were to give the massive contract extension that Herro will likely be asking for, it would lock the team into mediocrity for years to come.
A nightmare for the Heat
This is not to say that Herro doesn't deserve an extension; he does. He's answered every challenge from the Heat and is coming off the best season of his career to date. On paper, he's more than done enough to warrant a big payday.
That doesn't mean it has to come from the Heat.
If the Heat give Herro a massive extension (he's eligible for a max extension that is worth $150 million over the next three years), it would lock them into a core that is good, but not great. As individually good as Bam Adebayo and Herro are, they haven't been good enough for the Heat.
Last year, with Herro and Bam being the No. 1 and 2 options for the majority of the season, the Heat barely snuck into the playoffs and were embarrassingly swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Heat knows Herro and Bam's ceiling as their top duo, and it's not championship level.
With Herro and Bam leading the way, the Heat will probably continue to be in the playoff conversation, but they'll never be good enough to win a championship. And for a franchise that is all about championships, I'm not sure how they can make a decision that will lock themselves into mediocrity for the foreseeable future.
That's the nightmarish scenario that will await the Heat if they give Herro a huge extension. And that's where this becomes a difficult decision for Miami. Herro deserves to get paid, but if the Heat are the team that does it, it's hard to take them as a serious championship contender in the Eastern Conference.