Tyler Herro’s timing for a career year couldn’t have been better. After posting the best scoring, assist and shooting numbers of his career, Herro is eligible to sign a contract extension this summer that would cement his place as a building block for the Heat.

Starting Oct. 1, Herro is eligible to sign a three-year, $149.7 million extension. Those years would be added to the two years ($31 million and $33 million) that Herro already has left on his contract and keep him under contract through his 30th birthday. The deadline for that extension is Oct. 20.

Tyler Herro wants to be in Miami.

When asked Wednesday if it would be a “big deal” if the extension wasn’t offered, Herro made it clear that he wants to remain with the  Heat longterm.

“Not the biggest deal, but I would love to be here,” Herro said. “The front office, the organization, the city, everyone knows how much I love Miami. I’ve been here since I was 18, 19. I’ve got two kids here.

“This is really home for me,” he continued. “I love being here. Basketball is why I’m here at the end of the day. I want to win and I know how badly this organization and city want to win. We will see what happens. If it doesn’t get done in October, then we can get it done next summer. It will just be a little bit higher of a price.”

If both sides wait until the summer of 2026, Herro would then be eligible to sign a four-year, $206.9 million extension. He’d become eligible to sign a five-year, $380 million supermax extension if he’s named All-NBA next season.

Herro put together the best season of his career, playing in a career-high 77 games after Pat Riley challenged him to be more durable before the season. He also averaged career-highs in points (23.9), assists (5.5), field-goal percentage (47.2) and 3-pointers made per game (3.3) in his first All-Star season.

Even for the eternally confident Herro, his personal success came as a surprise after coach Erik Spoelstra had asked Herro to embrace more of an off-ball role going into the season.

“I came in thinking it would probably be my lowest usage rate,” he said. “I thought I would average the least [points] of my career. I ended up averaging 24, having the best season of my career but I really do think it’s because I came in thinking I was going to play off the ball. I was letting it come to me. I was going to let [Butler and Terry Rozier] handle and make all the plays and I would be off the ball and be a glue guy a little bit in that starting unit.

“It changed quick [when Butler was suspended and traded] and I was able to reap the benefits of it. I made the All-Star team. I won the three-point contest. A lot of personal positives that came out of this season.”

Herro ended up posting his highest usage rate since being named Sixth Man of the Year in 2022. As he stepped into being Miami’s full-time No. 1 option, his role evolved and so did his game. But it also came with a dramatic learning curve, ending with scoring 17 points on 6 for 23 shooting combined in Miami’s final two playoff games.

“I can’t let the last two games define my season, but also understand that’s not what I want out of this league,” Herro said. “The personal growth is cool, but also I want to win and be known as a winner.

“We have to do some things this summer to help put us back in that position.”

Herro on his summer and Jimmy Butler comments.

The Heat were 14-28 in games that were within five points in the final five minutes this season. Win a few more of those, and maybe the Heat aren’t drawing the top seed in the first round. Herro said one of his priorities this summer is figuring out how to make more of an impact in those clutch moments.

“That’s what I will be working on this summer, a lot of film, a lot of studying what went wrong this year,” Herro said, “so that if we’re in those situations next year, we can turn those into wins instead of losses.”

Herro also attempted to clarify a remark made to The Athletic that made the rounds on social media earlier this week. In a story posted before Monday’s Game 4, Herro was quoted saying, “Obviously, I know I need Jimmy [Butler] to win. If we had Jimmy right now, I feel like it’d be a completely different situation.”

On Instagram on Wednesday, Herro said: “Dude asked me a question in the timeframe of Jan-Feb when the ‘jimmy saga’ was happening. I said I had came into the season thinking I was playing off of Jimmy, to him getting traded and I had to switch my mindset from needing Jimmy to me being the lead guy, and I spoke about the things I learned from JB. Never said I need anyone to win games. Y’all tripping [and] buddy from the Athletic who wrote the story is a goofy.”

Asked to clarify those statements during his media availability on Wednesday, Herro said his quote was “taken out of context.”

“I was asked a question after Game 2. The question was asked as if it was February, December, January.

“If we were 0-82, I would never come out and say I need someone else to win. That’s who I am as a competitor. I think I can do it, with my teammates and coaching staff. I would never come out and say I need somebody else to win in this league.”