After tripping and falling over themselves on the way to the 2025 NBA Playoffs, the Miami Heat are hoping for a much smoother season in 2025-26. However, they may have to do so with yet another key starter’s contract situation being unresolved heading into the season after the Jimmy Butler fiasco darkened their doorstep in 2024-25.
Tyler Herro’s Team To Hold Heat Contract Extension Talks Soon
This week, Tyler Herro and his representatives will meet with the Heat to discuss a contract extension, he tells reporters on Media Day (h/t Miami Herald reporter Anthony Chiang). Wednesday is the first day that the two sides will be able to sit at the roundtable, with the 2024-25 All-Star eligible to sign a deal “worth as much as $149.7 million through three seasons.” The extension window will temporarily close on Oct. 20.
If they can’t come to terms on an agreement by then, Herro “would become eligible to sign an extension worth as much as $206.9 million through four seasons during the 2026 offseason and would become supermax eligible (five years, $380 million) if he’s selected for an All-NBA team this season.”
“I expect to get something done. But we’ll see what happens,” Herro says. “I think they’re supposed to meet on Wednesday.”
Defying The Odds
The idea of Herro signing a max extension, let alone the supermax, was far-fetched at this time last year.
At the time, there were people who didn’t even believe he should be a starter, including Heat lifer Udonis Haslem. Instead, they thought the 2022 Sixth Man of the Year was best served in his former role. However, with Butler’s lackadaisical scoring efforts and Bam Adebayo‘s errant shot attempts, Herro became their hero. The Heat ended up replacing Butler with former first overall pick Andrew Wiggins but Herro remained their most reliable scorer.
As he’s averaged at least 20 points and 4 assists per game in each of the past four seasons, his volume in 2024-25 was no fluke either. The question is whether that was the best he has to offer. Just 25 years old, he hasn’t even reached his theoretical prime. Yet, it’s hard to imagine him giving much more than he did last season, especially if his teammates do what they’re supposed to.
Is He A Max Player?
Despite Herro coming off of a career season, there’s reason to believe the Heat won’t be offering him the max.
It starts with the No. 1 options that preceded him.
Adebayo signed a three-year, $166 million maximum extension in 2024. With that being said, the crux of Butler’s issue with the Heat last season was that they wouldn’t give him a two-year, $111 million max contract extension. However, Butler did agree to a four-year, $184 maximum contract extension with Miami back in 2021. Prior to that deal, it had been seven years since the Heat signed a player to a max contract, the last being Hall of Fame forward-center Chris Bosh.
Here’s the thing. Adebayo and Butler were elite defensive players prior to putting their name on the dotted line (and still are). Adebayo was also a three-time All-Star, while Butler was a five-time All-Star. Bosh, who was respected defensively, was a nine-time All-Star and two-time NBA champion; a remnant of the LeBron James era.
Herro isn’t ‘just a guy’ out there. Nonetheless, isn’t dominant at both ends of the floor. He isn’t a perennial All-Star or an NBA champion. He isn’t particularly durable either, only playing more than 67 games in one season. In fact, he’s on the mend right now.
Is Heat president Pat Riley really going to see him as a max player?
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