3 Reasons Miami Heat should cut bait with Tyler Herro

2. Financial flexibility 

The Heat have struggled to maintain much financial flexibility over the five-year Butler era. Doing so became considerably more difficult once Herro signed a lucrative contract extension in 2023. Pat Riley put trust in Herro as a player when locking him up long-term, but the reality is that his nearly $30 million annual salary has limited Miami.

Had his play justified his hefty salary (that will be covered in a bit), then the financial hit wouldn’t be as bad. But having a player taking up the third highest salary on the team that has struggled to stay healthy and produce at a high level, is a burden. The Heat have had little to no cap space over the left couple of offseasons to go out and make roster improvements.

Last year especially, they were deep into the second apron. Being involved in such dire cap straights brings on a lot of restrictions due to the new CBA. Herro’s contract just being even 5$ million less annually would have gone a long way in providing the Heat with some much-needed breathing room.