The Miami Heat are almost ready to roll into the 2025-26 NBA season. And despite what the national pundits seem to think, this campaign could be an interesting one thanks to a productive summer from the front office.
They found their possible franchise floor general in No. 20 pick Kasparas Jakucionis. They perked up their perimeter attack with an absurdly low-cost trade for Norman Powell. They potentially filled the shooting void left behind by Duncan Robinson as soon as it was created. And they watched their young core become the talk of the (European) town with gobs of success at EuroBasket.
This was an objectively good summer, but they still need a final transaction to say they aced the offseason. It's time to give Nikola Jovic an extension, because his many breakout indicators suggest his price is only going up from here.
The Heat should invest in Jovic now before his stock skyrockets.
While Jovic isn't guaranteed to take a big leap, it sure seems like he's lacing up some anti-gravity moon boots. With his blend of size (6'10") and offensive skills, he looks perfect for the modern NBA.
He's shown flashes of what his future could hold, too. His three-point percentage has landed north of 37 each of the past two seasons. His efficiency feels in a perpetual state of improvement. And he keeps making more of his opportunities.
It's one thing to see a volume spike when it's pretty obviously tied to an increase in floor time. It's quite another to see that volume rise stems from improved per-minute production. That's the kind of jump he made this past season, posting per-36-minutes bests in scoring (15.4), assists (4.1), and true shooting percentage (59.5), per Basketball-Reference.com.
While he needs to improve his consistency and defense, those are common issues seen in 22-year-old players. It's at the very least relatively safe to assume those improvements are coming. And once they do, his brilliant offensive gifts should be on full display in a potentially featured role.
The Heat needs to get ahead of this surge and lock his pay rate in right now. A salary in the $12 million to $15 million range could look clearance-priced in a season or two if he makes the kind of strides many are anticipating.
That's what should make this a bigger priority for Miami than Tyler Herro's extension talks. His price tag is probably as high as it can get. Come October 1, he'll be eligible to sign an extension worth up to three years and $150 million. Considering he's a 25-year-old coming off of his first All-Star season, chances are he'll ask for the maximum he can get or at least an amount very close to it.
That basically takes any profit potential away from the team, not to mention it would take Herro trades off the table for this season. That's a huge cost to pay, and one Miami probably shouldn't consider given the leverage it has. Herro is still under contract for the 2026-27 season, so it's not like he'd become an immediate flight risk without an extension. Plus, the Heat could always consider pivoting toward Powell if they weren't sure they wanted to make Herro a primary building block.
The calculations are much different with Jovic. If they don't give him a mid-sized salary now, they could be looking at a colossal contract commitment when he enters restricted free agency next summer. This is officially show-him-the-money time.