Why Sunday is important day on NBA calendar and what it means for Heat. Also, Giannis again out

Every player on the Miami Heat’s roster will be eligible to be traded on Sunday.

While 14 of the Heat’s 16 players are already eligible to be included in a trade, the remaining two players join that list when center Dewayne Dedmon and guard Victor Oladipo are able to be traded starting on Sunday.

Why did it take so long for Dedmon and Oladipo to become trade eligible?

Players around the NBA who received more than a 20 percent raise when re-signed as a free agent through their Bird rights this past offseason aren’t allowed to be traded until Jan. 15, and Dedmon and Oladipo both fall into that category.

But there is one difference between the two players.

Because players on one-year contracts with Bird rights can’t be traded without their consent, Oladipo can’t be dealt without his permission. Heat forward Udonis Haslem also can’t be traded without his consent because he was signed to a one-year deal this offseason and would have Bird rights this upcoming summer.

Dedmon does not hold this veto power and can be traded without his permission.

Dedmon, who served a team-issued one-game suspension for “conduct detrimental to the team” in Thursday’s win over the Milwaukee Bucks, is a trade candidate because of the structure of his contract.

With Dedmon playing as the Heat’s backup center this season, the Heat has been outscored by 10.1 points per 100 possessions with him on the court this season. Undrafted rookie Orlando Robinson, who is on a two-way way contract with the Heat, has taken some of Dedmon’s playing time as the backup center recently.

Dedmon, 33, is on a $4.7 million salary this season and his $4.3 million salary for next season is fully non-guaranteed, which is a contract that could be attractive to a team looking for salary cap relief in a trade. Such a deal could also help the Heat create more room under the luxury tax threshold in order to add to its roster.

The Heat has one open spot on its 15-man roster, playing with only 14 players on standard contracts so far this season because of its position against the luxury tax. Miami stands just about $200,000 away from crossing the luxury tax threshold, which does not give it enough space to sign a 15th player to a standard contract at this point for the rest of the season without becoming a luxury tax team.

Trading Dedmon’s contract to a team with salary cap space, like the Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs, that can take him in without needing to send much in return would help the Heat open the necessary room to potentially convert Robinson to a standard NBA contract, add an outside free agent and/or create the flexibility to take in more money in another trade without entering luxury tax territory.

The Heat also has its full allotment of $6.4 million of cash available that it can dip into to help facilitate such a trade. NBA teams are allowed to include up to a total of $6.4 million this season as part of trade packages to incentive teams to accept a deal.

The NBA trade deadline is less than a month away on Feb. 9.

ERIK SPOELSTRA’S IDEA

After hearing that the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors would have a regular-season NBA record crowd of about 68,000 fans at their game Friday night at the Alamodome, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra spitballed his own idea to top that mark in Miami.

“One of these days, we got to do something outside and pack 100,000 down here in South Florida,” Spoelstra said Thursday. “Let’s do that. Make that happen. We might be able to do that, put a court in the Marlins’ stadium. Get the roof, open it up, let’s do it, 100,000. That’s my call.”

If that idea was ever able to become reality, it would take the addition of a large amount of extra seating to set a new record. LoanDepot, home of the Miami Marlins, has a retractable roof but has a listed capacity of about 37,000.

INJURY REPORT

The Heat ruled out Tyler Herro (left Achilles soreness), Nikola Jovic (lower back stress reaction), Kyle Lowry (left knee discomfort), Caleb Martin (left quadriceps strain), Duncan Robinson (finger surgery) and Omer Yurtseven (ankle surgery) for Saturday’s game against the Bucks.

Meanwhile, the Bucks will be without superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (left knee soreness) on Saturday. Antetokounmpo also missed Thursday’s loss to the Heat because of his knee issue.

Milwaukee’s Serge Ibaka (personal reasons) and Khris Middleton (right knee soreness) have also been ruled out for Saturday’s game in Miami.