If there was any chance that the Miami Heat were going to be able to get Tyler Herro at a discount, that possibility is probably zero now. Thanks to the New York Knicks, the Heat are now staring down the nightmarish scenario of needing to decide between paying Herro near-max money or moving on from him.
After the Knicks gifted Mikal Bridges a four-year, $150 million contract extension, the Heat doesn't have much wiggle room in negotiating with Herro next. That extension for Bridges averages out to roughly $38 million per year. And, mind you, this was Bridges taking a bit of a discount as a favor to the Knicks.
Bridges is not an All-Star player, and you'd have to imagine that the Heat are working under the assumption that Herro is slightly higher on the league's hierarchy because of that.
Whether that's actually the case or not remains to be seen, but Herro is more productive on the offensive end of the floor and is coming off an All-Star campaign. In theory, Herro should demand more and be paid more.
The Heat's difficult Herro decision
Miami now finds itself in a position where it either will have to pay Herro his likely market value, make the difficult decision to trade him a year before he hits the open market, probably for pennies on the dollar because of his contract situation, or risk losing him for nothing next summer.
It's a nightmarish scenario for the Heat that was not made any easier by New York.
And this is not necessarily just an indictment of Herro. In a vacuum, he's been an exceptional player for the Heat. He's delivered on nearly every front (certainly on the offensive end of the floor) and has surpassed all expectations coming out of college.
But he's just not the superstar player the Heat needs opposite of Bam Adebayo. And with Bam already on a max contract, there's no way the Heat can pay Herro what he probably deserves while also upgrading the rest of the roster in a way that could help them return to championship contention.
This is not about Herro. This is more so about what the Heat needs and where they are in their build back to relevance in the Association.
Right now, the Heat is at the most difficult part of any championship build. They need a clear-cut No. 1 option superstar. They currently have a pretty solid supporting cast, but are missing the main piece. And there's not a world where paying Herro $40-plus million per year is the solution to their problem.
Miami clearly values Herro, but that's certainly going to be put to the test over the next couple of months. The Knicks did the Heat zero favors with their extension for Bridges. The pressure is on for the Heat and Herro.
At this point, it's pretty impossible to predict how this will all end in Miami. Because the way it should probably end, I'm not sure if the front office is ready for such a decision.