Tyler Herro was frustrated — he saw players he felt he was better than getting paid.
Now he has a contract he will have to live up to.
The Heat have signed Herro to a four-year, $120 million extension of his rookie contract, with up to $10 million in incentives) a story broken by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN and now confirmed by the team.
OFFICIAL: The Miami HEAT have re-signed guard Tyler Herro to a contract extension.
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) October 2, 2022
All the details ➡️ https://t.co/tsStl3303L@MiamiHEAT // @FTX_Official pic.twitter.com/LUoIVHo5SK
Herro went to Twitter to confirm the deal himself.
— Tyler Herro (@raf_tyler) October 3, 2022
“Tyler is an impact multi-faceted player and we are excited to have him signed for the next five years,” Heat President Pat Riley said in the statement announcing the signing. “His improvement every year since we drafted him has led to this day. We believe he will continue to get better.”
This is a straight four years, no options for either side.
Signing an extension takes Herro off the table for any trades to upgrade the Heat roster this season. Herro had been at the heart of the rumors about the Heat and Kevin Durant, as well as other teams.
Herro’s new contract extension is a big bet on the wing taking another step forward this season and beyond. The deal is a little larger than expected (the conventional wisdom had Herro coming in close to the $107 million RJ Barrett got with the Knicks). Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel and I have discussed Herro’s price before and didn’t quite picture it this high, but with the rising cap over the next few years this deal may not look out of line.
Miami stepped up and paid the reigning Sixth Man of the Year high-level starter money — now he has to earn that job and that paycheck.
Mostly, he has to improve on defense so Eric Spoelstra can trust him at the end of games and deep into the playoffs (while Herro has had big playoff games, his role shrunk deeper in last postseason because of his defense).
Herro puts up numbers — 20.7 points a game on 39.9% from 3 last season — and is the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, but does this new deal move him up in the Heat offensive pecking order with Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler? Probably not in crunch time (and if Kyle Lowry bounces back this season, there could be games where Herro is option No.4).
This locks up part of Miami’s roster going into the season, but they are still on the look for depth at the four. Don’t consider this roster settled.
