As top of East strengthens, Heat's cap crunch proving to be limiting at start of free agency

“We feel good about Donovan,” Altman said Monday to reporters. “He’s in a great space mentally. He’s healthy. He was out there with those young high school players, hooping in a really good space.

“He is still under contract right now, so I think we can talk about him as a Cavalier. He’s invested. He’s really invested in what we’re doing, and hopefully soon we’ll have more of a decisive answer on [a contract extension] for you. But he’s been great. He’s been super involved and super collaborative and very, very much pro-Cleveland.”

If the Heat is left filling its roster with minimum deals, which is possible unless a trade is made to change the salary-cap math, among the notable outside free agents who could become options at that price point this offseason are Jae Crowder, Kyle Lowry, Evan Fournier, Patrick Beverley, Justin Holiday, Wesley Matthews, Markieff Morris, Marcus Morris Sr., Reggie Bullock, Jordan Nwora, Josh Okogie, Dario Saric, Dennis Smith Jr., T.J. Warren, James Wiseman and Mo Bamba.

NBA teams are allowed to carry up to 21 players under contract in the offseason and preseason, a total that does not include those on summer league contracts. Rosters must be cut to a maximum total of 18 players (15 on standard contracts and three on two-way contracts) by the start of the regular season.

The Heat’s three two-way contract slots are filled for now, as the Heat announced Monday it is bringing back guard Dru Smith on a two-way deal. The Heat also locked in Florida guard Zyon Pullin and Arizona forward Keshad Johnson to two-way contract agreements shortly after they both went undrafted last week.

Two-way contracts do not count toward the salary cap, luxury tax or apron and allow for players to be on their NBA team’s active list for as many as 50 regular-season games, with other playing time needing to come in the G League. NBA teams can have as many as three players on two-way contracts at any one time and two-way deals can be swapped out at any time.

While free agent negotiations were allowed to begin Sunday evening, most free agents can’t formally sign their new contracts until Saturday at noon. But this year’s first-round draft picks like Ware, those who have agreed to minimum contracts of two years or less, and players who have agreed to two-way contracts were allowed to begin signing their new deals on Monday.

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