Caleb Martin, Kevin Love, Thomas Bryant opt out to enter free agency. What it means for the Heat

The Miami Heat’s salary-cap situation entering free agency became clearer on Saturday.

One day after Josh Richardson picked up the $3.1 million player option in his contract for next season to remain with the Heat, Caleb Martin ($7.1 million player option), Kevin Love ($4 million player option) and Thomas Bryant ($2.8 million player option) all bypassed their player options to become unrestricted free agents ahead of Saturday’s 5 p.m. deadline to make a decision, according to league sources.

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While Bryant and Martin appear to be on their way to finding new teams, the expectation is that Love will re-sign with the Heat in free agency.

Love’s new deal could potentially be on a minimum contract that’s cheaper than the $4 million option he declined, creating more room under the second apron to help Miami re-sign some of its own free agents like Haywood Highsmith. Love has made it clear in recent months that he wants to continue his Heat career and the Heat wants him back.

Free agency around the NBA opens Sunday at 6 p.m. NBA teams have been allowed to negotiate with their own impending free agents since June 18 after the NBA Finals ended, but Sunday represents the first day that free agents can begin talking to outside suitors.

▪ Love, who turns 36 on Sept. 7, is preparing for his 17th NBA season.

He established himself as a reliable backup center for the Heat last regular season after making five NBA All-Star Game appearances and being named to the All-NBA Second Team two times earlier in his career. He averaged 8.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game while shooting 34.4 percent on 4.4 three-point attempts per game in a bench role for the Heat this past regular season.

Per 36 minutes last regular season, Love averaged 18.9 points, 13.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists. It’s the most points he has averaged per 36 minutes since the 2021-22 season, most rebounds he has averaged per 36 minutes since the 2018-19 season and most assists he has averaged per 36 minutes in his NBA career.

The Heat outscored opponents by 6.5 points per 100 possessions with Love on the court last regular season.

▪ Now that Martin has opted to become a free agent, the Heat appears to be priced out of re-signing him. With Martin potentially getting the full $12.9 million nontaxpayer midlevel exception or more in free agency this offseason, matching that type of offer would push the Heat past the ultra-punitive second apron — which it does not want to cross — unless a trade is made to change Miami’s salary-cap math.

The only real path for the Heat to re-sign Martin was convincing him to opt in to his $7.1 million player option by offering him a lucrative extension. The Heat was eligible to offer Martin up to a four-year, $78 million extension that would have kept him in Miami through the 2028-29 season if he had exercised his player option by Saturday’s deadline.

But with Martin choosing to instead become an unrestricted free agent, that extension option with the Heat is no longer possible. Martin’s return is now considered unlikely.

Martin, who turns 29 on Sept. 28, averaged career highs in points (10 per game) and assists (2.2 per game) in 64 games (23 starts) this past regular season. In Martin’s three seasons with the Heat, he played in two Eastern Conference finals and one NBA Finals while also finishing just one vote away from being named the 2023 East finals MVP.

▪ Richardson, who turns 31 on Sept. 15, now enters the final season of his contract. He’s set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Richardson signed with the Heat last offseason in free agency, returning after spending the first four seasons of his NBA career with the Heat. He was dealt to the Philadelphia 76ers as part of the sign-and-trade transaction for Jimmy Butler during the 2019 offseason.

But Richardson’s return season with the Heat was cut short, as he underwent season-ending surgery on his right shoulder on March 6. He averaged 9.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game while shooting 44.4 percent from the field and 34.7 percent on threes in 43 games (six starts) this past regular season prior to missing the final 29 games of the regular season and the entire postseason.

It’s still up in the air whether Richardson will be healthy enough to be a full participant in training camp at the start of October. But the hope is he’ll be ready to play at the start of the regular season later that month.

▪ Bryant, who turns 27 on July 31, opted to become an unrestricted free agent after playing in just 38 games in his first regular season with the Heat. While being held out of half the regular-season schedule (41 games) by coach’s decision, the veteran center averaged 5.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game this past season.

With Love expected back and the Heat using its first-round pick this year to draft Indiana center Kel’el Ware, Bryant could be searching for a bigger role elsewhere as a free agent.

With Richardson opting in, and Bryant, Love and Martin opting out, the Heat’s current salary-cap breakdown includes nine players on guaranteed salaries for next season: Jimmy Butler ($48.8 million), Bam Adebayo ($34.8 million), Tyler Herro ($29 million), Terry Rozier ($24.9 million), Duncan Robinson ($19.4 million), Kel’el Ware ($4.2 million, hasn’t signed contract yet), Jaime Jaquez Jr. ($3.7 million), Richardson ($3.1 million) and Nikola Jovic ($2.5 million).

If the Heat signs second-round draft pick Pelle Larsson out of Arizona to a standard contract, he would become the 10th Heat player locked into a standard deal for next season. Miami could also sign Larsson a two-way contract.

But the Heat only has one of its three two-way contract slots open, after agreeing to two-way deals with Florida guard Zyon Pullin and Arizona forward Keshad Johnson on Thursday shortly after the completion of the NBA Draft. Pullin and Johnson went undrafted.

The Heat also announced Friday that it extended qualifying offers to Cole Swider and Alondes Williams, making them restricted free agents and allowing the Heat to match outside offers. Swider and Williams, who both closed last regular season on two-way contracts with the Heat, are expected to play for the Heat’s summer league team this year.

The Heat did not extend a qualifying offer to Jamal Cain, who spent the last two seasons on a two-way contract with Miami. Cain was only eligible for a qualifying offer at the veteran minimum on a standard contract, which the Heat bypassed.

With no qualifying offer, Cain will become an unrestricted free agent this offseason and he’s not expected to return to the Heat.

The list of players from the Heat’s season-ending roster who will be free agents this summer includes Bryant (unrestricted free agent), Cain (unrestricted free agent), Highsmith (unrestricted free agent), Love (unrestricted free agent), Martin (unrestricted free agent), Patty Mills (unrestricted free agent), Cole Swider (restricted free agent), Alondes Williams (restricted free agent) and Delon Wright (unrestricted free agent).

The Heat has until July 15 to guarantee developmental center Orlando Robinson’s full $2.1 million salary for this upcoming season. If the Heat decides not to guarantee Robinson’s salary, he would also become an unrestricted free agent.