The Miami Heat have agreed to a four-year, $62.4 million contract extension with third-year forward Nikola Jović, per ESPN’s Shams Charania. Jović is coming off his best season with the Heat after being selected 27th overall in the 2022 NBA Draft.
He finished last season averaging a career-high 10.7 points on 37% from 3-point range, though for the third consecutive year he struggled to stay healthy and was limited to just 46 games. He’s yet to play at least 50 games in a season during his career, but when healthy he’s shown promise of being a quality role player next to Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro. While he missed the last month of the regular season, Jović was able to return for the playoffs, where he put up 24 points in Miami’s Game 4 loss to the Cavaliers. Though it didn’t result in a win, it was an encouraging way for Jović to end the season.
This contract shows a commitment from the Heat in Jović’s development, and could mean an even bigger role on a Miami team that will experience its first full season without Jimmy Butler in the 2020s after he was traded to the Golden State Warriors last season.
While the Eastern Conference will be as wide-open as ever due to significant injuries to the last two conference winners in Jayson Tatum (Celtics) and Tyrese Haliburton (Pacers), it’s still difficult to pin down exactly where the Heat stand entering a new season. They’ll already start the season with a bad break as Herro will be recovering from foot surgery that is expected to keep him sidelined until at least November. His return could actually be later than that, as the All-Star guard said at Media Day that he’ll be back in 8-12 weeks, which at the latest would put him at a January return.
Tyler Herro injury: Heat star out until at least November after undergoing foot surgery
Chris Bengel
Despite Herro’s extended absence, Adebayo seems incredibly confident in Miami’s chances of making another surprise run come playoff time, telling Andscape’s Marc Spears that “People [are] going to call us crazy, but I think we’re a contender.” Norman Powell also thinks the Heat could surprise some folks this season, saying other teams should “fear” Miami.
“We can be really good,” Powell said. “One thing that people don’t understand or see is that you don’t need a generational superstar or talent to be good to go and win a championship and have a deep playoff run,” Powell said. “[You can have a deep playoff run] Having a well-rounded team with experience with star players, which we have in Bam and Tyler — and I see myself as well as a budding star even though I’m 32 now. But [it helps] having that experience with Wiggins, guys that have won championships and know what it takes to be successful.”
When healthy, the Heat can field a starting lineup of Herro, Powell, Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins and Kel’el Ware. That’s a pretty solid unit, and bringing in Jović’s shooting off the bench, as well as Terry Rozier’s scoring gives the Heat a quality seven-man rotation that can certainly challenge for a top-six seed in a weakened Eastern Conference.
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