The Miami Heat re-signed another player from this past season's roster as center Thomas Bryant will sign a one-year contract according to Marc Stein via his X (formerly known as Twitter) page. The contract itself is worth the minimum deal at $2.9 million which comes after several days ago when Bryant declined his $2.8 million player option.
However, the Heat do save a little bit of money as “because of NBA rules, his cap charge will be about $800,000 less than it would have been had he opted in” according to Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Bryant found little playing time last season as he averaged 11.6 minutes per game along with 5.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 0.6 assists while shooting 57.7 percent from the field.
Bryant was once thought to be the primary backup to star Bam Adebayo before the season started, but as the year went on, that role went to Kevin Love, who also just re-signed to the Heat on a two-year deal after declining his own player option. This current move can be seen as more depth at the center position since besides Adebayo getting a contract extension and the aforementioned Love deal, they also selected center Kel'el Ware with their first-round pick.
Bryant said he loves the Heat
Time will tell if Bryant gets more playing time as it was sporadic throughout last season as he played in his eighth year in the NBA as he was previously on such teams as the Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers, and Denver Nuggets. However, during his exit interview with the Heat, he made it known to the media that he loves the “organization” and “culture.”
“I haven’t given too much thought about it right now,” Bryant said when asked about his offseason decisions. “Really it’s just trying to deal with the end of the season. But for me, I love this Heat organization. I love the Heat culture, I love what these guys represent and what they bring to the table and how everybody here has to work.”
Bryant said being with Heat “was a learning experience”
Bryant would also admit that opportunity was sparse on the team as besides Adebayo and Love, the Heat also had Orlando Robinson who with all the moves, might not return to the team. Still, the 26-year old and Indiana product would call his first season with Miami a “learning experience.”
“For me, overall, I thought the year was a learning experience,” Bryant said about his first season with the Heat. “It was a really big learning experience coming in from different organizations to the Heat organization and Heat culture. I think it was a great big learning curve for me and I felt like I improved day in and day out since the start of training camp all the way until now. The opportunities were not there all the time, but I believed it was things that coach had to do.”
It has been a relatively quiet offseason so far for the Heat as they are looking to improve after their second straight season finishing at the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference as they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Boston Celtics. Miami still awaits the decisions of free agents Caleb Martin and Haywood Highsmith, plus there seems to be mutual interest with star DeMar DeRozan as their summer is just starting to get interesting.
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