Kevin Love commits to Heat return on Day 1 of free agency. Where Heat’s roster now stands

As expected, Kevin Love committed Sunday to return to the Miami Heat in the opening minutes of free agency.

With league-wide free agent negotiations allowed to begin Sunday at 6 p.m., Love agreed to a two-year contract worth $8 million to stay with the Heat just minutes after the negotiating period began. The deal does not include a player or team option for the second season, according to a league source.

Day 1 Free agency tracker: Heat division rival gets stronger; Kevin Love stays with Heat

Love opted out of the final year of his previous contract on Saturday that would have paid him $4 million this upcoming season, creating the possibility to sign a slightly cheaper but longer deal to return to the Heat that created more room under the second apron to help Miami re-sign some of its own free agents this summer. Instead, Love agreed to an additional year of guaranteed money on a contract that begins with a salary similar to the one that he opted out of over the weekend.

As it turns out, Love’s new deal won’t result in meaningful salary cap savings for the Heat.

Love, who turns 36 on Sept. 7, is preparing for his 17th NBA season. He established himself as a reliable and productive backup center for the Heat last regular season after making five NBA All-Star Game appearances earlier in his career.

Love 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 last 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.

With Love committing to return to Miami, that leaves eight players from the Heat’s season-ending roster who remain free agents: Thomas Bryant (unrestricted free agent), Jamal Cain (unrestricted free agent), Haywood Highsmith (unrestricted free agent), Caleb 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).

Martin is exploring other options after conversations with the Heat in recent days.

The Heat remains in contention to re-sign Highsmith, who is expected to receive interest from a handful of other teams.

Love’s return gives the Heat 10 players on standard contracts 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, contract not signed yet), Love ($3.8 million), Jaime Jaquez Jr. ($3.7 million), Josh Richardson ($3.1 million) and Nikola Jovic ($2.5 million).

This list does not include Orlando Robinson and Pelle Larsson, with the inclusion of those two players giving the Heat 12 players on standard contracts for next season depending on what the team opts to do with their contracts.

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

Larsson, the Heat’s second-round draft pick this year, is expected to sign a standard contract with the Heat. While it’s still unclear how the Heat will structure Larsson’s standard deal, his salary for next season will likely be between $1 million and $2 million. The Heat can also sign Larsson to a two-way contract, which does not count against the salary cap or toward the 15-man standard roster.

The Heat’s salary cap situation limits what it can do to add outside free agents.

With the Heat entering free agency as a team on its way to surpassing the first apron, but expected to stay below the second apron, it currently only has the projected $5.2 million taxpayer midlevel exception and minimum contracts to offer outside free agents this offseason.

But using any part of the $5.2 taxpayer midlevel exception would hard cap the Heat at the second apron for the entire season.

The Heat can’t even acquire an outside free agent through a sign-and-trade because such a move hard caps a team at the first apron of $178.7 million — a line Miami will be over once it fills its roster.

While a trade may be the Heat’s only real path to make a significant addition to its roster this offseason, the new Collective Bargaining Agreement will make it challenging for Miami to pull off a trade during the 2024-25 NBA calendar.

Among the trade restrictions the Heat faces as a team on track to be above the first apron: Miami can’t take back more money in a trade than it sends out, won’t be allowed to use a preexisting trade exception and can’t acquire a player through a sign-and-trade. But the Heat will still be able to aggregate salaries in a trade.

NBA teams are allowed to carry up to 21 players under contract in the offseason and preseason, a total that does not include those on summer league contracts. Rosters must be cut to a maximum total of 18 players (15 on standard contracts and three on two-way contracts) by the start of the regular season.

While free agent negotiations were allowed to begin Sunday evening, most free agents can’t formally sign their new contracts until Saturday at noon.