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The vibes have been high for the Miami Heat to open the 2025-26 season. The Heat is still within striking distance of the top seed in the Eastern Conference and has a high-flying offense most Heat fans thought was never possible.<\/p>\n
But despite the good vibes, there is one contract extension we have a feeling Miami’s front office would take back in a heartbeat if they could.<\/p>\n
When Miami signed Nikola Jovic to a four-year extension worth over $62 million, the goal was to lock him up before his rookie deal expired at the end of this season. Injuries had hampered Jovic, but Miami was betting on getting a key contributor if he could stay healthy.<\/p>\n
The problem is that even when healthy, Jovic\u00a0is immediately looking\u00a0like a bust\u00a0that\u00a0could hamper Miami down the road.<\/p>\n
He began the year as a starter on opening night, and even though he had a couple of bright spots, it was clear that he didn’t mesh well with Bam Adebayo. The Heat needed Jovic to attack the rim, and instead, he looked like a passive three-point shooter.<\/p>\n
His 29-point night against Portland was a hope that he was putting it all together, but that was fool’s gold more than anything else. Jovic hasn’t scored more than eight points since that early November outing.<\/p>\n
Then the player whom Heat fans were concerned about signing to an extension because he is always hurt, became hurt once again with a hip issue. Since returning from that, Jovic has looked like a brand new create-a-player in 2K, trying to compete against maxed-out VC players.<\/p>\n
If you\u00a0are lost\u00a0on that reference,\u00a0just\u00a0know he has been awful in his three games back.\u00a0Against Detroit, he played\u00a0for\u00a010 minutes, scored\u00a0two\u00a0points, and turned the ball over\u00a0five\u00a0times while going -15 on the night in a three-point game.<\/p>\n
He got a pity minute against the Clippers before getting six minutes against the Mavericks:<\/p>\n
Six minutes, zero points, and -8 on the night.<\/p>\n
If Jovic were on his entry contract, we would\u00a0just\u00a0be prepared\u00a0to move on at the end of the season and wonder what could have been.<\/p>\n
But Miami forced through an extension at the dawn of the season, and Jovic\u00a0is slated\u00a0to make $16,200,000 next season\u00a0and take\u00a0up almost 10% of Miami’s salary cap.<\/p>\n
It’s not as disastrous as Terry Rozier’s contract, but if Jovic doesn’t turn things around, it\u00a0will begin to\u00a0creep into that territory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Miami Heat would like a second chance at this one decision from the offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":125069,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\n