Miami Heat finally make an important swap with a difficult player
The Miami Heat finally make another major trade for an expensive player, and the minimum-salary agreement is fully guaranteed.
November 15: According to the transaction log on NBA.com, the miami heat have formally signed two-way player Joshua Primo to a new standard contract.
Shams Charania of The Athletic reported last Monday that this promotion was coming. The move had to be made official today because teams aren’t permitted to carry fewer than 14 players on standard contracts for more than two weeks at a time. The Clippers had been carrying 13 since completing their James Harden and Filip Petrusev trades on November
Primo was given a second chance this fall by the Clippers after being waived by San Antonio last year for engaging in “inappropriate and offensive behavior by exposing himself to women.” The NBA imposed a four-game suspension and Primo has been undergoing therapy for his behavior, which allegedly included multiple incidents with Dr. Hillary Cauthen, a sports psychologist who worked for the Spurs during his time with the organization.
The 20-year-old wing was the youngest player in the 2021 draft when San Antonio selected him with the 12th overall pick. He appeared in 50 games as a rookie, making 16 starts and averaging 5.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 19.3 minutes per night. He got into just four games during his second season before being waived and has yet to appear in an NBA game since joining the Clippers.
Primo has been playing for the Ontario miami heat, L.A.’s G League affiliate, and is expected to remain in the NBAGL for the time being, tweets Law Murray of The Athletic. He has averaged 17.7 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 3.0 APG in three games (28.9 MPG) for Ontario so far.
While the exact terms of Primo’s deal aren’t yet known, it will be a minimum-salary contract, which is all the Clippers can offer. According to Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times , it’s a two-year contract with a partial guarantee in year two — that suggests the deal is fully guaranteed for the 2023/24 season, though we haven’t yet gotten official confirmation on that.
