MIAMI, FLA- As stated by Senior Lead NBA Insider Shams Charania, the Miami Heat (29-25, 6th in East) have officially traded veteran center Dewayne Dedmon and a 2028 second-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs (14-40, 14th in West) in exchange for cash consideration ahead of the 2023 trade deadline.
At face value, trading Dedmon to San Antonio may seem insignificant for Miami, but it actually gives the Heat much more financial flexibility to make another trade before the 3 PM ET trade deadline on February 9th.
First and foremost, sending Dedmon to the Spurs helps the Heat remain under the luxury tax. Before the aforementioned trade, Miami was just $200,000 below the luxury tax, but is now $4.8 million below, which allows Miami to avoid the luxury tax bill. In addition, Miami has two open roster spots with the departure of Dedmon, meaning the Heat can acquire a new player via trade, depending on the contract status.
If the Heat decide to not do any more trades before the trade deadline, then Miami is able to convert the two-way contract of undrafted rookie center Orlando Robinson to a standard deal. In doing so, Robinson would be eligible to play for Miami for the remainder of the regular season and the 2023 playoffs, which would give the Heat much-needed frontcourt depth behind star center Bam Adebayo.
Finally, the Heat also created a $4.7 million trade exception from the trade, which is valid for up to one year, although it can’t be aggregated with other exceptions or cap space for a player who earns more. Since the NBAÂ requires teams to receive something in return in all trades, the minimum amount of cash the Spurs were required to send back to the Heat was $110,000.
With $22.4 million in salary cap space, the Spurs were more than able to absorb Dedmon, who is currently on a one-year, $4.7 million contract. Due to the current construction of San Antonio’s roster and down year, the Spurs may buy out Dedmon within the coming days, which would make him an unrestricted free agent. It’s worth noting that the 2028 second-round pick that San Antonio acquired from Miami is unprotected.
After playing with six different teams from 2013-2020, Dedmon joined the Heat during the 2020-2021 offseason on a veteran’s minimum contract. Since then, Dedmon has played in 113 games for Miami, averaging 14.4 MPG, 6.2 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 0.7 APG, and 0.5 BPG while shooting 56.6% from the field and 74.3% from the free-throw line. With this said, Dedmon has notched just 350 minutes this season for the Heat, due to multiple on-court incidents and an ongoing case of plantar fasciitis in his left foot.
For reference, Dedmon was fined $32,414 for tossing a massage gun on the court following an ejection in Miami’s 112-111 win over Oklahoma City on January 12th. Dedmon also exchanged words with Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, which seemingly damaged their relationship. Dedmon was later given a one-game suspension for his actions.
With the news that second-year center Omer Yurtseven returned to contact work last week following an ankle surgery in November, it appeared that Dedmon would lose more playing time in favor of Yurtseven, along with Adebayo and 2022 first-round pick Nikola Jovic. With this said, Miami will need to resign Yurtseven and Robinson this offseason, as both forwards are set to enter restricted free agency.
The Miami Heat are trading center Dewayne Dedmon and a second-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 7, 2023