Heat has decision to make on center Nick Richards. What it means for both parties

Miami Heat admin October 14, 2026 0 Comments

Heat has decision to make on center Nick Richards. What it means for both parties

For center Nick Richards, nothing is guaranteed with the Miami Heat … until opening night.

That’s because Richards signed a nonguaranteed one-year deal in late August to fill the 14th spot on the Heat’s standard roster. Richards’ $3.1 million salary for this season becomes fully guaranteed if he’s on Miami’s roster on opening night unless the guarantee terms in his contract are amended before then.

NBA teams have a 5 p.m. deadline Monday to cut rosters to the regular-season maximum and set them for opening night. But most of those moves actually need to be made by 5 p.m. on Saturday because of the 48-hour waiver period.

For Richards, his salary for this season becomes fully guaranteed if he’s not waived by the Heat before it begins the regular season next week on Wednesday against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Kaseya Center. If Miami keeps Richards past Saturday at 5 p.m., it would only be responsible for a few days of his salary if it waives him prior to Wednesday’s opener.

“I just take it one day at a time,” Richards, 28, said before the Heat played its fourth of five preseason games on Wednesday night against the Brooklyn Nets at Kaseya Center. “Ultimately, it’s their decision. I mean, I think I come out here every single day, do my best, play the hardest, try to play as hard as I can play. I just take it one day at a time.”

While most of Richards’ work has come behind closed doors in practices, he has shown glimpses of the aspects of his skill set that attracted the Heat this offseason.

Richards, who was selected by the New Orleans Pelicans with the 42nd overall pick in the second round of the 2020 NBA Draft, entered Wednesday’s exhibition averaging just 2.7 points per game but an impressive 8.3 rebounds per game through the Heat’s first three preseason contests.

Rebounding is a strength for Richards, as he has averaged 11 or more total rebounds per 36 minutes in four straight seasons and four or more offensive rebounds per 36 minutes in three of the last four seasons. Among the 432 NBA players who appeared in at least 25 games last regular season, Richards ranked 24th in rebounding percentage (the percentage of a team’s total rebounds that a player grabs while on the court).

“I like what he’s been bringing,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Richards’ preseason. “And that’s not only in the games when he’s gotten his minutes, but in practice. He’s a very good rebounder. He can rebound in traffic. He can rebound above the crowd. He can rebound balls that are slightly out of his area.

“And he’s a big, big. So he’s good in pick-and-roll coverage. For his coverage, we still have to shore some things up with that. But he provides something a little bit different than all the other bigs provide. And I like what he’s done.”

Richards (6-foot-11 and 255 pounds) entered Wednesday’s exhibition leading the Heat in rebounds per 36 minutes this preseason with 19.9 rebounds per 36 minutes.

“I just do whatever the team needs me to do,” Richards said. “Rebounding is just probably a knack for me. I’ve been doing it since I was a kid, so I always try to lead my team in rebounding no matter what team I’m on.”

Richards’ best season came in 2023-24 with the Charlotte Hornets, when he averaged a career-high 9.7 points per game while playing a career-high 26.2 minutes across a career-high 67 regular-season appearances. He also averaged eight rebounds and 1.1 blocks that season.

Richards split last season between the Phoenix Suns and Chicago Bulls. He averaged 5.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 0.7 blocks per game while shooting 51.2% from the field and 5 of 18 (27.8%) from three-point range in 14.6 minutes per game across 48 games (six starts) last season before needing to settle for a nonguaranteed contract with the Heat this past offseason.

“I guess you could say that I do have a chip on my shoulder because for sure I really thought that the summer was going to go a different way,” Richards said of not getting a guaranteed NBA contract this past summer. “But it is what it is at this point. At this point, I’m just trying to come into this team, trying to make every single person better, trying to make myself better, trying to put the team first, just play my role, be that guy that I know I can be, and hopefully everything works out.”

It would make sense for the Heat to keep Richards around for the start of the regular season since NBA teams basically need at least 14 players on standard contracts. NBA teams are allowed to go up to two weeks at a time for no more than 28 total days during the regular season with 13 players on standard deals before they are forced to add another player to reach the league minimum of 14.

Waiving Richards would leave the Heat with only 13 players on standard deals unless it immediately replaces him with another standard contract player. And even if the Heat keeps Richards around and guarantees his salary for the season, Miami would still have enough money under the first apron that it’s hard-capped at to fill the 15th spot by signing a player to a minimum contract at any point.

Richards also brings much-needed frontcourt depth to the Heat’s roster, with Bam Adebayo and Bobby Portis the only other players currently on Miami’s standard roster who have played extended minutes at center during their NBA careers. The only other center on Miami’s roster is Vlad Goldin, who is signed to a two-way deal that allows for him to be on the Heat’s active list for as many as 50 regular-season games with other game action having to come in the G League.

The Heat’s roster is currently at the preseason maximum of 21 players (14 players on standard contracts, three players on two-way contracts and four players on Exhibit 10 contracts), and rosters must be cut to a maximum total of 18 players (15 on standard contracts and three on two-way contracts) by the start of the regular season.

“I mean, from the coaches, it seems like everybody loves me here,” Richards said. “Ultimately, it’s going to be up to them whether or not I’m the right fit. At the end of the day, it’s basketball. I’m happy to come out here, play the sport that I love, be a part of a team, who knows for how long. But I think, ultimately, it’s on them at the end of the day.”