The vibes have been high for the Miami Heat to open the 2025-26 season. The Heat is still within striking distance of the top seed in the Eastern Conference and has a high-flying offense most Heat fans thought was never possible.
But despite the good vibes, there is one contract extension we have a feeling Miami's front office would take back in a heartbeat if they could.
Nikola Jovic continues to be a liability for Miami
When Miami signed Nikola Jovic to a four-year extension worth over $62 million, the goal was to lock him up before his rookie deal expired at the end of this season. Injuries had hampered Jovic, but Miami was betting on getting a key contributor if he could stay healthy.
The problem is that even when healthy, Jovic is immediately looking like a bust that could hamper Miami down the road.
He began the year as a starter on opening night, and even though he had a couple of bright spots, it was clear that he didn't mesh well with Bam Adebayo. The Heat needed Jovic to attack the rim, and instead, he looked like a passive three-point shooter.
His 29-point night against Portland was a hope that he was putting it all together, but that was fool's gold more than anything else. Jovic hasn't scored more than eight points since that early November outing.
Then the player whom Heat fans were concerned about signing to an extension because he is always hurt, became hurt once again with a hip issue. Since returning from that, Jovic has looked like a brand new create-a-player in 2K, trying to compete against maxed-out VC players.
If you are lost on that reference, just know he has been awful in his three games back. Against Detroit, he played for 10 minutes, scored two points, and turned the ball over five times while going -15 on the night in a three-point game.
He got a pity minute against the Clippers before getting six minutes against the Mavericks:
Six minutes, zero points, and -8 on the night.
If Jovic were on his entry contract, we would just be prepared to move on at the end of the season and wonder what could have been.
But Miami forced through an extension at the dawn of the season, and Jovic is slated to make $16,200,000 next season and take up almost 10% of Miami's salary cap.
It's not as disastrous as Terry Rozier's contract, but if Jovic doesn't turn things around, it will begin to creep into that territory.