Despite signing a four-year, $50 million offer sheet with the Brooklyn Nets, Tyler Johnson will be staying with the Miami Heat after they decided to match it.
After dealing with the shock of the decision made by Dwyane Wade, the Miami Heat are starting to pick up the pieces and regroup.
While they have made numerous moves to address the many holes in their roster in recent days, the most noteworthy move for the Heat is retaining one of their own.
First reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, the Heat have decided to match Tyler Johnson‘s offer sheet made by the Brooklyn Nets and effectively re-signing him to a four-year, $50 million deal.
The Miami Heat have matched Brooklyn's $50M offer sheet for Tyler Johnson, league source tells @TheVertical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 10, 2016
Of course, the Heat’s decision to retain Johnson ends all of the speculation surrounding him as the Nets quickly acted to signing him to his offer sheet not long after free agency began.
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A restricted free agent this offseason, Johnson will ultimately be staying with the team that took a chance on him only a couple of seasons ago after he went undrafted in the 2014 NBA Draft.
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In his two seasons with the Heat, Johnson has averaged 7.4 points per game, 2.8 rebounds per game and 1.8 assists per game in 21.6 minutes per game.
However, Johnson’s far from a proven player, as he’s only played in 64 games over the least two seasons and has battled with injuries throughout his young career.
Despite the lack of a proven track record, Johnson’s the type of player the Heat need to have on their team, considering the long-term outlook of the Heat right now.
The biggest question regarding Johnson now that he’s officially staying with the Heat is his what will his role be within the team.
There’s obviously a big hole in the Heat’s starting lineup with Wade leaving for the Chicago Bulls and it’s possible that the team, namely head coach Erik Spoelstra, turns to Johnson to act as the team’s starting shooting guard.
That may sound far-fetched to some, but Johnson does bring some skills, like three-point shooting, the Heat had struggled with at times throughout last season. (Johnson is a career 38 percent three-point shooter so far).
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Johnson’s not the only player on the Heat’s roster that could be considered at the team’s starting 2-guard spot as Josh Richardson has already shown he’s capable of playing big minutes.
There are obviously bigger questions that face the Heat right now (i.e. Chris Bosh‘s playing future), but how the Heat will handle choosing the successor to Wade will be fascinating to watch in the build up to the season.
All in all, the Heat’s decision to retain Johnson is pretty much a no-brainer.
Obviously the salary numbers for Johnson may shock some, but that’s the new cap age we’re living in now in the NBA and with Wade leaving for Chicago, that certainly made it easier for the Heat to go ahead with the decision to re-sign Johnson.
Although his role within the team goes from here is unknown, it’s very likely Johnson will have higher expectations from both the team and Heat fans now with his new deal in place.
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It’s up to Johnson, of course, to live up to them, but the Heat will be in no rush to hurry Johnson’s development as they embark on a post-Dwyane Wade life.