After enjoying a successful season down in Miami, veteran Forward P.J. Tucker will look to cash in with a new contract this offseason. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and The Stadium, Tucker has opted out of his $7.4 Million Player Option for the 2022-2023 NBA Season. As a result, Tucker will now enter the 2022 NBA Offseason as an Unrestricted Free Agent, and has the option to sign with any team in the NBA.
From a financial perspective, Tucker’s decision to decline his Player Option makes a lot of sense. If Tucker would have picked up his Player Option, he would have just received $7.4 Million, or a $350,000 raise compared to the 2021-2022 season. With Tucker now as a Non-Bird Free Agent, he is eligible to be paid up to 20% of his $7.4 Million Salary. This means that Miami is able to pay Tucker up to $8.4 Million without using any of their Cap Exceptions.
Although Tucker is set to enter Unrestricted Free Agency, this doesn’t mean this is the end of Tucker in Miami. As stated by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press:
“P.J. Tucker deciding to opt out was 100% expected. This does not mean he’s leaving Miami. It’s likely Heat will fight to keep him, and Tucker made clear to teammates when season ended that he would like to be back.”
Like Tucker, Miami would love for the veteran Forward to remain in South Beach. After signing Tucker to a two-year, $14.3 million contract with the Heat last offseason, Miami saw the signing immediately pay off. In 71 games (70 starts) with Miami this season, Tucker posted a solid statline of 7.6 PPG, 5.5 RPG, and 2.1 APG while shooting 48.4% from the field, 41.5% from three-point range, and 73.8% from the free-throw line.
Furthermore, Tucker was arguably Miami’s best defender, as he posted a 110 defensive rating, his best since the 2018-2019 season with Houston. Tucker’s defensive prowess helped make Miami possess one of the NBA’s best defenses, as the Heat finished in the Top-Five in OPPG (105.6) and Defensive Rating (109.1), per Basketball-Reference. Thanks to their lockdown defense and the spectacular play of star forwards Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, Miami earned the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time since the 2013-2014 season. After cruising to the Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat lost to the No. 2 Boston Celtics in seven games.
Although Miami will have very limited spending room this offseason, the Heat must prioritize resigning Tucker. At 37 years old, Tucker’s two-way isn’t slowing down at all, and would continue to be a great veteran presence for younger role players in Miami. The Heat aren’t the only team that has expressed interest in signing Tucker this offseason, however. According to Bleacher Report’s Timothy Rapp, Philadelphia is intrigued by the idea of signing Tucker to a contract this summer.
For a 76ers team that was eliminated by the Heat in six games this postseason, Tucker would give Philadelphia much-needed defensive awareness and toughness, making him a natural fit for a team in win-now mode like Philadelphia. Unfortunately for Philadelphia, its financial state makes it very challenging to acquire Tucker. If James Harden opts into his $47.3 million player option for the 2022-2023 season, the 76ers will have an active roster bill of $153.4 million with 13 players under contract, per Spotrac. Furthermore, $2.5 million would be added to the bill if Philadelphia keeps the No. 23 overall pick, putting them well over the $122 million soft cap.
Although Philadelphia is able to use the $6.3 million Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception on Tucker, Tucker would likely refuse, as he already declined his $7.3 million Player Option. In spite of this, Philadelphia does have a solution to work around this problem. If Harden opts out of his player option, then Philadelphia could create around $30.2 million in cap space by releasing Danny Green ($10 million) and trading Matisse Thybulle ($4.3 million). If Philadelphia is able to do this, then the 76ers are willing to offer Tucker a multi-year contract. Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Philadelphia is willing to offer Tucker a three-year, $30 million contract.