Injuries have decimated Heat roster on trip. Why it’s hard to add outside reinforcement

The Miami Heat is in need of healthy players.

Injuries have decimated the Heat, which had just seven available players in Friday’s loss to the Washington Wizards. The Heat will have more available options than that on Sunday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, but will still be missing a chunk of its roster.

The Heat will be without six players against the Cavaliers: Jimmy Butler (right knee soreness), Udonis Haslem (personal reasons), Tyler Herro (left ankle sprain), Victor Oladipo (left knee tendinosis), Gabe Vincent (left knee effusion) and Omer Yurtseven (left ankle surgery).

That left 10 available players for the Heat on Sunday, with Bam Adebayo (left knee contusion), Dewayne Dedmon (non-COVID illness) and Duncan Robinson (sprained right hand) expected to play against the Cavaliers after missing Friday’s loss to the Wizards. Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin, Haywood Highsmith, Nikola Jovic, Max Strus, Jamal Cain and Orlando Robinson will also be available.

Butler was not with the team in Cleveland after returning to Miami for further evaluation of his injured knee, as he’ll miss his third straight game when the Heat takes on the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday (8 p.m., Bally Sports Sun) to close its four-game trip.

“He’ll be day to day,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked about Butler’s status ahead of Sunday’s contest. “But it was really to get back there and get in our facility and do the necessary work around the clock. But the update I got today was promising.”

What can the Heat do to help bolster its roster during this injury-filled stretch?

Anything short of a trade is not going to significantly change the makeup of the team, but the Heat does have one open spot on its 15-man roster that it could use to add some much-needed depth.

However, the luxury tax makes things complicated.

The Heat stands just about $200,000 away from crossing the luxury tax threshold, which does not give Miami enough space to sign a 15th player to a standard contract for the rest of the season without becoming a luxury tax team.

While crossing the luxury tax line by about $1 million would only result in a relatively small $1.5 million tax bill, it’s another factor that has made the Heat hesitant to become a luxury tax team: the repeater tax.

Avoiding the luxury tax this season would again push back the clock on the ultra-punitive repeater tax (when a team is over the tax at least three times during a four-year period). The last time the Heat finished as a tax team was in the 2019-20 season, but it’s important to delay the start of the repeater tax clock because Miami is on track to be faced with the threat of the luxury tax for the next few seasons after signing Herro to a big extension in early October.

There’s also not a significant upgrade available in the free agent market who warrants a move that triggers the start of the repeater tax clock. Among the free agents still unsigned are Carmelo Anthony, Avery Bradley, Paul Millsap, Wayne Ellington and Tristan Thompson.

But there are ways the Heat can fill its open 15th roster spot while still avoiding the tax.

Miami can wait until late March to sign a 15th player, just days before the end of the regular season, and remain under the tax threshold because the prorated minimum salary at that late stage would be less than $200,000. However, that does nothing to help the Heat’s injury-depleted roster right now.

The Heat could also sign a free agent to a non-guaranteed contract at any time and waive him after 10 days to avoid entering the luxury tax. But this would essentially eliminate the possibility of Miami signing a free agent later this season while still avoiding the tax, which is a preferable route because that player would then be playoff eligible if the signing is timed correctly in the final days of the regular season.

It’s worth noting that 10-day contracts can’t be signed until Jan. 5.

In addition, the Heat could make a trade to change the math and create more room under the tax threshold. Even if Miami decides to make a signing that would push it into tax territory in the coming weeks, it has until the end of the regular season to make a move to again get under the line and avoid the tax.

Or the Heat could just push through this tough stretch with the hope of getting some of its injured players back soon. Miami does have both of its two-way contract players, Cain and Orlando Robinson, on the trip to help add depth.

However the Heat decides to proceed, the bottom line is the core of the current roster must get healthier for the team to get back on track.

“Nobody stops for you,” Spoelstra said days ago amid the team’s rash of injuries. “The league doesn’t stop. The league doesn’t feel sorry for you.”