Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that the Miami Heat are readying a max offer for Giannis. The Greek Freak will be a free agent in the next offseason.
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The Heat are on a high despite losing in the NBA Finals. They were 75-1 to make the Finals before the start of the 2019-20 season. After finishing 5th in the regular season, they romped through the Eastern Conference playoffs with a 12-3 record.
Despite meeting their match in the Lakers, they put up a credible fight in the absence of their best scorer, Goran Dragic. Bam Adebayo was suffering from a serious neck injury himself, and was out of action for 2 games.
How the Heat plan on landing Giannis as a free agent next season
Giannis would undoubtedly have been impressed by the Heat in this year’s playoffs. They walled him out of the paint well for the most part. Bam Adebayo was also relatively effective on him man-to-man when push came to shove.
Giannis’s free agency will easily be the biggest talking point next offseason.
As many have expected, the Miami Heat plan to go “all-in” on pursuing Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2021 free agency.
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) October 15, 2020
The Heat are in cap heaven right now. Their only max player, Jimmy Butler, is fully worth the deal he’s on currently. Meyers Leonard and Solomon Hill, who earned $10 million each last season, are coming off their books now.
By using this freed-up money, the Heat can pay Duncan Robinson and Goran Dragic at their market value. They can also land the likes of Davis Bertans this offseason given they only have $80 million committed to the roster.
Bam Adebayo is on a rookie deal for another year. The Heat will probably give him a max extension though, so this might leave less room to accomodate Giannis on a supermax salary. They might have to engineer a sign and trade, as they did to land Butler.
