Miami Heat Summer League 2021 Roster, Dates and Complete Schedule
After a successful start to their offseason trading, it is back to on-court activities for the Miami Heat. As of Tuesday afternoon, their NBA Summer League schedule will begin with an exciting matchup against the LA Lakers in Sacramento.
Also check out: NBA Summer League 2021 Schedule
Within the first few hours of the free agency window opening on Monday, it was clear that Pat Riley wasn't going to waste any time making the Miami Heat better after a disappointing 2020-21 campaign.
One of the most-sought after targets on the market, Kyle Lowry, was persuaded to come and play down in Florida. Meanwhile, veteran forward P.J. Tucker was stolen away from the Milwaukee Bucks. They also extended the contracts of leader Jimmy Butler and sharpshooter Duncan Robinson, who are bound to make the Heat competitors for the title this year.
Hoping to join the Miami Heat roster for the upcoming season and beyond are several undrafted players from their Summer League team. They will be joined by some faces familiar to Heat fans who will be hoping to get some solid minutes under their belt prior to the campaign beginning in October.
In this article, we will run down who is playing for the Miami Heat in the coming weeks and what the team's schedule looks like.
Who is on the Miami Heat's Summer League Roster?
The Miami Heat announced their Summer League roster on Sunday with 15 players set to take part in the annual tournaments. Fans will be aware of some of Miami's selections, though most will be largely unknown up until now.
Precious Achiuwa, Miami's first-round pick in the draft last year, showed impressive moments in his rookie campaign and was set to take part in their Summer League schedule after the Tokyo Olympics. However, in the reported sign-and-trade deal for Kyle Lowry, the Heat opted to let Achiuwa go to Toronto along with veteran Goran Dragic.
Gabe Vincent and KZ Okpala also represented Nigeria at the Olympics this summer but will be straight back into action for the Heat and will likely be the leaders of this inexperienced side. Neither player had a particularly prolific season in the 2020-21 campaign and will therefore be hoping to earn more minutes through their performances in these showcases.
Since the Miami Heat had no picks available on Thursday evening, they will be relying on the undrafted players they brought in to compete in the Summer League schedule. These players will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of Duncan Robinson, who earned a two-way contract after his performances in the 2018 Summer League.
In the backcourt, the Miami Heat added undrafted guards Javonte Smart, DJ Stewart, AJ Lawson, Dru Smith, Marcus Garrett, RJ Nembhard and DeJon Jerreau.
Smart, Lawson and Stewart, in particular, are bucket-getters and averaged 16+ points in their final season of college before the NBA Draft last week. Fellow guard Tyson Carter played his basketball in Greece last year for Lavrio and put up 13.7 points and 3.5 rebounds.
They also brought in forwards Micah Potter and Justin Smith, who could be the most interesting undrafted prospects to look out for. Potter, a 6'10" stretch big, massively improved his game after transferring to Wisconsin for his junior year and averaged over 10 points and 5.9 rebounds across two years. He shot the ball at over 50% in both campaigns and developed his three-point shot, connecting with 45% of attempts in the 2019-20 season.
Smith meanwhile, slightly smaller at 6'7", avearged 13.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and shot at 54% for Arkansas.
The Heat's final two players are center Omer Yurtseven, whose team option the franchise declined on Sunday, making him an unrestricted free agent, and Max Strus. Strus impressed off the bench last season, averaging six points per game in the 39 contests he played and has since earned a new, two-year deal.
What is the Miami Heat's Summer League schedule?
The Miami Heat's Summer League schedule will commence with the California Classic in Sacramento. They will play the LA Lakers on August 3rd at 8PM ET, which will be broadcast in America on ESPN2, before taking on the Golden State Warriors the following day at the same time on ESPNU.
The team will then travel to Las Vegas to play in the MGM Resorts Summer League, where they will play the Denver Nuggets, Memphis Grizzlies, Utah Jazz and Atlanta Hawks.
Their tournament will commence with Western Conference heavyweights, the Denver Nuggets, on August 8th at 10PM ET. They will then play the Memphis Grizzlies three days later at 5PM ET, both of which will be shown on NBA TV.
On the 13th and 14 of August, the Heat will take on the Utah Jazz (5PM ET) and Atlanta Hawks (4PM ET) respectively. Both of these fixtures will be shown on ESPN2 and ESPNU.