After adding size in first round, Heat drafts Arizona wing Pelle Larsson in second round

The Miami Heat used the first round to add size to its roster. In the second round, the Heat added three-point shooting.

After using the 15th overall pick on Wednesday to select 7-foot Indiana center Kel’el Ware, the Heat selected Arizona wing Pelle Larsson with the 44th overall pick in the second round on Thursday.

The Heat entered the draft with the 43rd pick, but traded that selection to the Atlanta Hawks for the 44th pick and cash considerations just before taking Larsson at No. 44. The move was part of a three-team deal involving the Houston Rockets, as the Hawks initially sent AJ Griffin to the Rockets for the 44th pick in the draft.

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“Pelle is a player we’ve been watching for years,” said Adam Simon, who is the Heat’s vice president of basketball operations and assistant general manager. “... I think Larsson, I think what he shows us is a well-rounded versatile player with a 38-inch vertical, big hands, has a little bit of an edge to him. We thought he would fit in here with his versatility, obviously, his ability to shoot and defensive mindset. So for us, obviously we had him as the top player on our board when we went to pick.”

Of the decision to trade down a pick and select Larsson at No. 44, Simon said: “It just so happened that we had an opportunity to swap one spot. For us, we got the same player [at 44] we would have had at 43. And we made that decision to pick him at 44.”

Larsson, who is among the older draft picks at 23 years old, stands at 6-foot-5 and 212 pounds with a 6-foot-8 wingspan. He averaged 12.9 points, four rebounds, 3.7 assists and 0.9 steals per game while shooting 52.6 percent from the field and an eye-opening 47 of 110 (42.7 percent) from three-point range in 37 games (37 starts) as a senior at Arizona this past season.

Larsson grew up in Sweden and moved to the United States in 2020 to begin his college basketball career at Utah before transferring to Arizona after his freshman season. He led Arizona with a team-best plus/minus of plus-412 and earned second-team All-Pac-12 honors as a senior this past season.

“Whatever the role might be, whatever the minutes, I’m just going to do what’s best for the team,” Larsson said of what the Heat can expect from him shortly after being picked by Miami. “That’s what you’re going to see from me. A guy that can do a little bit of everything, shoot the ball really well and play really hard.”

According to the NBA’s scouting report on Larsson, he “already looks the part of an NBA player who should be capable of holding his own on the defensive end. However, his biggest asset lies on offense, as he’s emerged as a reliable shooter, both in catch-and-shoot and off-ball situations. Due to his athleticism and strong frame, he’s a threat when finishing at the rim, but there’s a strong chance his offensive game at the next level will rely primarily on his shooting ability. Larsson can also thrive in pick-and-roll situations, particularly as the ball-handler due to his excellent vision.

“Larsson can potentially fulfill the role of a secondary ball-handler at the NBA level, though he’d thrive even more as a catch-and-shoot alternative with enough athleticism to attack the rim if given enough space. Defensively, he should be ready to make an impact at the next level since he’s a shooting guard with the build of a small forward, though he doesn’t profile to be a difference-making presence on that end of the floor.”

The NBA’s scouting report adds that Larsson is “a versatile guard who can defend multiple positions while emerging as a reliable catch-and-shoot threat, with the possibility of an even more significant role on offense if his game keeps developing. That should warrant a long career in The Association, as teams all over the league have the need for a competent wing who can make his presence felt on both ends of the court.”

Along with Larsson’s impressive three-point shooting, Simon said the Heat was impressed with the way he “gets around the court easily” and “just the way he moves.”

“I mean, that’s important to have that type of skill set, where he can shoot, handle, rebound, he’ll come up with a deflection or steal,” Simon added. “I think he’s a versatile player that really moves well, has some quick twitch, good elevation and pop to his game. So it’s just a matter of developing his base of a skill set and I think he’ll be fit in lots of different roles.”

Larsson worked out for the Heat in Miami during the pre-draft process and called it “a good time.”

“The Heat just builds very well-rounded players that have long careers and they can do a lot of things,” Larsson said. “They’ve had similar players to me who are great shooters and I’m just excited to implement that into my daily routine.”

While first-round picks are slotted into salaries through the NBA’s rookie scale, there isn’t as much structure with second-round selections.

The Heat can use one of its three two-way contracts to sign Larsson, which means he wouldn’t count against the salary cap and wouldn’t take up a spot on Miami’s 15-man roster of standard deals.

The Heat could also add Larsson to its 15-man roster by using a standard contract, with a few different options to sign him in this scenario.

While the Heat’s doesn’t have cap space, it can use a minimum contract to sign Larsson to a standard deal and that would come with a $1.2 million cap hit. But minimum deals can be no longer than two seasons in length.

The Heat could also use all or part of its $5.2 million taxpayer midlevel to sign Larsson to a standard contract. But using that contract would hard cap the Heat at the second apron for all of next season.

Or more realistically, the Heat could use the new second-round pick exception to sign Larsson to a standard contract that includes a first-year salary worth up to the minimum salary for a player with one year of NBA experience of $1.9 million. Every team that made a second-round selection has a second-round pick exception, which can be used to sign a second-round pick to a three- or four-year contract without needing to use a mid-level exception to do it.

The Heat’s current salary-cap breakdown includes eight players on guaranteed salaries for next season: Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Terry Rozier, Duncan Robinson, Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Nikola Jovic. Ware can’t sign his rookie-scale deal with the Heat until Monday.

Larsson would be the ninth player to join that list if he signs a standard contract with the Heat. If it’s a two-way contract, Larsson would be one of the three two-way contract players that the Heat is able to have at any one time.

While Ware and Larsson are the Heat’s two draft picks this year, NBA teams quickly shift their attention shortly after the end of the draft to mine the pool of undrafted players in an effort to fill out summer league rosters and find other prospects to add to their player development programs.