Copyright Heavy.
The final days before the start of any new NBA season tend to involve a flurry of extension signings, and the Miami Heat have joined the party. Shams Charania of ESPN was the first to report the figures on the news that the Heat agreed an extension with Nikola Jovic, a player of theirs for the last three years. The extension as reported by Charania will be for four years and $64.2 million, an eye-catching amount of money for a a player who does not play much. The majority of preseason extensions go to players about to start their fourth season, as players who have just completed the third season of their rookie scale contract have until the start of the fourth to sign a deal. Jovic is one of them, But in his case, he will be starting his fourth season despite only playing 107 games over the first three – out of a possible 246. Jovic’s Career: A Story Of Benches After being drafted with the 27th overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, Jovic would play only 204 minutes across 15 appearances in his first season in the NBA, Most of those would come in his first full month as an NBA player, before a combination of back injuries and DNP-CDs saw him never play again once the new year rolled around. Jovic’s second year was slightly better, but he still only played half a season. Almost fully healthy, Jovic was simply left out of the rotation for the first half of the season, and while he would be a starter for much of the second half, he finished the year with only 46 games played – a figure he would repeat in his third season, this time due to breaking his hand back in February, ruling him out for the final two months. In total, then, Jovic has played only 42% of the possible Heat regular season games he has been on the roster for, due to a combination of Jovic’s injuries and Eric Spoelstra’s preference for others. The good news, though, is that when he has taken, the court, the quality of his play has improved over that span. And the DNP-CDs are no more. The Heat Need Him To Kick On Last season, Jovic averaged 10.7 points and 2.8 assists per game, both career highs, to go along with 3.9 rebounds per game and 37.1% three-point shooting. Advanced statistics reveal a .595 true shooting percentage, a 0.7 VORP rating and 2.5 win shares, all solidly above-average numbers. And the eye test reveals an obvious NBA player. Long and languid, the 6’10 forward has a good shooting touch, the handle to drive close-outs and ball reversals, the shooting touch to space the floor, and enough athleticism to keep up with opposing face-up fours such as himself. His defensive awareness and ability to keep up with the pace of the NBA game has much improved in his three part-seasons of work, and while he may be more Nemanja Bjelica than Jonathan Kuminga at this stage, there exists plenty of upside for Jovic to tap into, and the ability to level up on this projection across the life of the extension. For the extension to pay off for the Heat, though, longevity and hardiness are key. Only recently turning 22 years old, Jovic has a whole decade and more ahead of him. Yet the Heat will need a return on their money, and that means they will need Jovic on the court. The watching part of his basketball education has long passed.
