A breakdown of Love and Zeller signings. What it means for Heat’s roster and salary cap

The Miami Heat’s roster is full for the first time this season.

After announcing the signings of veteran forward Kevin Love and veteran center Cody Zeller on Monday night, the Heat’s roster now includes the NBA maximum of 15 players on standard contracts and two players on two-way contracts.

The Heat added Love, who became a free agent following his contract buyout with the Cleveland Cavaliers, by using the remaining $3.1 million of its bi-annual exception to sign him for the remainder of the season. Love will be an unrestricted free agent this upcoming offseason.

The Heat landed Zeller by signing him to a prorated minimum contract for the remainder of the season that counts about $500,000 toward the salary cap. Zeller will also be an unrestricted free agent this upcoming offseason.

Following the additions of Love and Zeller, the Heat is still about $1.2 million clear of entering luxury tax territory.

The Heat has been reluctant to enter the tax this season because it expects to be a luxury tax team next season. Avoiding the tax line this season keeps the clock from starting toward the punitive repeater tax, which is triggered when a team is in the luxury tax at least three times during a four-year period and can work to limit a team’s ability to build a quality roster.

The Heat’s trade of center Dewayne Dedmon opened the two roster spots and roughly $5 million of room under the luxury tax threshold necessary to sign Love and Zeller without entering the tax.

The decision to use the $3.1 million bi-annual exception to sign Love instead of the remaining $3.1 million of the nontaxpayer midlevel exception takes the biannual exception off the table for next season for the Heat. That’s because the bi-annual exception is not allowed to be used two years in a row.

A form of the midlevel exception can be used any season regardless of whether a team used it in the previous season or not.

So why did the Heat choose to use the bi-annual exception over the remainder of the nontaxpayer midlevel exception to sign Love when it was essentially worth the same amount of money and deploying the bi-annual exception eliminates it as an option next season?

The Heat prioritized the flexibility that the nontaxpayer midlevel exception offers for the rest of the season as one that can be used to sign a player to a contract for up to four years in length. The bi-annual exception can only be used to sign a player to a deal for up to two years.

But in order to use the remaining portion of the nontaxpayer midlevel exception before the end of the season, the Heat would need to waive a player on its 15-man roster to have the space to make another addition. The Heat has $1.2 million to spend on such a move this season before entering the luxury tax.

Another factor that probably made the Heat willing to utilize the bi-annual exception this season is that it likely won’t have it as an option next season whether it used it this season or not. That’s because teams above the apron, which is usually set about $6 million higher than the luxury tax line, aren’t eligible to use the bi-annual exception and the Heat is currently projected to be above the apron next season.

Both the nontaxpayer midlevel exception and bi-annual exception trigger that hard cap at the apron. So by dipping into its nontaxpayer midlevel exception money to add Love, the Heat is now hard capped this season at the current apron of $157 million, which is not an issue because Miami’s plan is to remain below the $150.3 million luxury tax line this season.

The Heat’s current roster of 15 players includes Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, Udonis Haslem, Tyler Herro, Haywood Highsmith, Nikola Jovic, Love, Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin, Victor Oladipo, Duncan Robinson, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, Omer Yurtseven and Zeller.

The Heat also has undrafted rookie center Orlando Robinson and undrafted rookie forward Jamal Cain signed to two-way contracts.

Two-way contracts do not count toward the salary cap or luxury tax and allow for players to be on their NBA team’s active list for as many as 50 regular-season games, with other game action having to come in the G League. Those on two-way deals are not eligible to take part in the NBA playoffs.

Robinson is down to just four remaining NBA games before the rest of his playing time this season must come in the G League.

To avoid these restrictions and guarantee Robinson can be eligible to take part in the rest of the regular season and playoffs, the Heat would need to convert his two-way contract to a standard deal. But with the NBA maximum of 15 players signed to standard contracts on the roster, the Heat would have to waive a player to make room for such a move.

The Heat allowed the 10-day contract of guard Jamaree Bouyea to expire in order to have the space on its roster to add Love and Zeller. Bouyea, who has spent most of the season with the Heat’s G League affiliate, is now eligible to be signed by any NBA team.

With the NBA currently in the middle of the All-Star break, the new-look Heat (32-27) will reconvene for practice in Miami on Thursday before resuming its schedule Friday against the Bucks in Milwaukee. The Heat is in seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings.

REGGIE MILLER’S HEAT TAKE

During a TNT conference call last week, NBA analyst and Basketball Hall of Famer Reggie Miller became the latest person to attempt to explain the Heat’s regression this season after last season’s run to the Eastern Conference finals.

“I think the reason why they’ve struggled, No. 1, is injuries,” Miller said. “Kyle Lowry has been in and out of the lineup, was on the trading block for a while. Jimmy Butler has been in and out of the lineup. Tyler Herro has missed time this year. When Miami was at their best, when they were really clicking in the bubble when they made it to the Finals and last season, their three-point shooting was outstanding — Duncan Robinson and now Max Strus. Their shooting is not where it should be. Their floor spacing and guys knocking down shots are not where it needs to be in today’s game.”