Meet the Exhibit 10 players competing this preseason for spot on Heat’s regular-season roster

“For competitors only” has become a Miami Heat mantra. It’s also reality for the back end of the Heat’s roster this preseason.

As the Heat takes part in its annual Red, White and Pink intrasquad scrimmage on Monday night at Kaseya Center before returning to Kaseya Center a day later to open its five-game preseason schedule on Tuesday against the Charlotte Hornets (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Sun and NBA TV), there’s at least one spot up for grabs on its 15-man regular-season roster.

The Heat’s roster, which is currently at the NBA’s preseason maximum of 21 players, only includes 13 players on standard contracts. The Heat must get its roster to a maximum of 15 players on standard deals and three players on two-way deals by the league-wide Oct. 23 5 p.m. deadline ahead of the start of the regular season.

Considering the Heat can carry fewer than 14 players on standard deals for a total of only 28 days during the season, including no longer than any 14-day span, the expectation is Miami will add at least one player on a standard deal prior to its Oct. 25 regular-season opener against the Detroit Pistons.

While the second tax apron is essentially a meaningless threshold this season because the penalties attached to it don’t go into effect until the 2024-25 season, the Heat will likely go most of the season with just 14 players on standard contracts because of its position against the luxury tax.

As presently constructed, the Heat would pay a luxury tax of more than $20 million for this season.

But going through the season with only 14 players on standard deals would limit the amount of time the Heat can use its two-way contract players.

At the maximum 15 players on standard deals, the Heat would be allowed to have two-way contract players on the active list for 150 total games during the regular season (50-game limit per player). Meanwhile, the Heat is only allowed to have two-way contract players on the active list for 90 total games during the regular season when it has fewer than 15 players on standard deals.

The 13 players on the Heat’s roster currently signed to standard contracts are: Bam Adebayo, Thomas Bryant, Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, Haywood Highsmith, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Nikola Jovic, Kevin Love, Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin, Josh Richardson, Duncan Robinson and Orlando Robinson.

The Heat hopes at least one of the eight players on its preseason roster who are not on standard contracts emerge to fill that open 14th spot.

Among the hopefuls are Heat two-way contract players Jamal Cain, RJ Hampton and Dru Smith. Two-way deals can be converted to a standard contract, but two-way deals can also be swapped out at any time.

Then there’s the five players on the Heat’s preseason roster who are currently signed to Exhibit 10 contracts, which are essentially tryout deals: Justin Champagnie, Cheick Diallo, Drew Peterson, Cole Swider and Alondes Williams.

The Heat could also choose to add a free agent who’s already available or becomes available following cut-down day to fill the open spot on its roster.

“It creates for a very competitive cauldron here,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked about the competition for a spot on the regular-season roster. “We have a deep roster anyway, so you have a lot of guys that see opportunity and also see the history of how we do things. So they see that they have to produce and maybe get a bigger opportunity.”

One of the Heat’s options to fill the 14th spot is to promote one of the Exhibit 10 players to a standard contract instead of potentially exposing one of its current two-way contract players to waivers. If a current two-way contract player is converted to a standard deal, he would need to clear waivers if the Heat opts to eventually return that player to a two-way deal.

Here’s a closer look at the five Exhibit 10 players on the Heat’s roster at the moment:

▪ Champagnie, a 6-foot-6 wing, split last season among the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors and the Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce. He appeared in 23 regular-season games (15 starts) with the Skyforce last season, averaging 18.2 points, eight rebounds and one assist per game while shooting 52 percent from the field and 30.6 percent from three-point range. The 22-year-old Champagnie has appeared in five NBA games during his career.

“Catch and shoot when you’re open. Don’t hesitate,” Champagnie said of what Heat coaches have been telling him. “Obviously, I play defense, I rebound and just keep doing the little things that guys don’t want to do. If I’m out there, dive on the floor for loose balls and play harder than everybody else so I can solidify myself and show what I’m capable of doing.”

▪ Diallo, a 6-foot-8 and 219-pound big man, split last season overseas between Kyoto Hannaryz of the Japanese Basketball League and Cangrejeros de Santurce of the Puerto Rican BSN. He previously appeared in 183 career NBA games (three starts) among the New Orleans Pelicans, Phoenix Suns and Detroit Pistons, averaging 5.2 points and 4.1 rebounds in 10.3 minutes of action while shooting 59.6 percent from the field. Diallo, 27, was drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers with the 33rd overall pick in 2016.

“Everybody just says, ‘Cheick, we know exactly who you are. We know exactly what you bring to the table. So we need that every single night,’” Diallo said of the message he’s received from Heat coaches. “That’s what everybody keeps telling me, the entire coaching staff. Just keep the high energy, screen, rebound, talk on defense.”

▪ Peterson, a 23-year-old 6-foot-9 sharpshooting forward, went undrafted this year out of Southern Cal and played for the Heat’s summer league team. In four summer league games with the Heat in Las Vegas in July, Peterson averaged 10 points, two rebounds, two assists and 1.5 steals per game while shooting a team-best 47.1 percent from three-point range. Last season as a redshirt senior at USC, Peterson averaged 14 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game while shooting 44.6 percent from the field and 42 of 116 (36.2 percent) from beyond the arc.

“The biggest thing is getting more consistent shooting wise and for me personally just adding weight,” Peterson said. “I was 188 in the summer league and now I’m 198. So I added 10 pounds. That’s a big focus for me. Trying to continue to add weight, get ready for the physicality and stuff like that. But my shooting is getting more consistent, I’m getting a quicker release.”

▪ Swider, another 6-foot-9 sharpshooting forward, impressed in training camp with his ability to knock down outside shots. Adebayo and Spoelstra even compared the 24-year-old Swider to a younger Duncan Robinson last week. Swider, who went undrafted out of Syracuse in 2022, spent his first NBA season on a two-way contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. He averaged 15.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game while shooting 45.6 percent from the field and an impressive 42.5 percent on eight three-point attempts per game in five Las Vegas Summer League games with the Lakers in July prior to being waived and eventually signing with the Heat.

“That’s a big emphasis,” Swider said of the Heat coaching staff’s push to get him to shoot more threes in the flow of games. “They talk about how Duncan went through that his rookie year. Just thinking about shooting the ball every single time you touch it. But at the same time, being smart with it, as well. I think I’m starting to get used to it.”

▪ Williams, a 6-foot-4 and 210-pound guard, went undrafted out of Wake Forest in 2022 after being named the ACC Player of the Year in his final college season. Williams, 24, averaged 13.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, three assists and 1.2 steals per game while shooting 51.5 percent from the field and 39 of 103 (37.9 percent) from three-point range in 24 G League games last season with the Brooklyn Nets’ G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets. He played for the Heat’s summer league this year.

“They like that I can facilitate, pass the ball, play defense on anybody and any position,” Williams said of the feedback he’s received from Heat coaches.