The has rewarded summer league standout with a contract. The announced Thursday that it signed Christopher to a two-way deal. Miami waived guard Zion Pullin from his two-way contract in order to have room to sign Christopher.
With the Heat swapping out Pullin for Christopher, its three two-way contract slots are now occupied by , and Christopher. NBA teams are only allowed to have three players signed to two-way contracts at any one time. Two-way contracts, which pay half the NBA rookie minimum and do not count toward the salary cap or luxury tax, allow for players to be on their NBA team’s active list for as many as 50 regular-season games but do not come with playoff eligibility.
Two-way deals can be swapped out at any time without affecting a team’s salary cap. Christopher, a 6-foot-4 and 215-pound guard, earned a two-way contract with his impressive summer league performance. Christopher averaged 19.
3 points, three rebounds, 1.8 assists and two steals per game while shooting 54.1 percent from the field, 21 of 40 (52.
5 percent) on threes and 15 of 15 (100 percent) from the foul line during the Heat’s six-game run to the Las Vegas Summer league championship. He was also named the Las Vegas Summer League championship game MVP, scoring a team-high 24 points on 6-of-10 shooting from three-point range in Monday’s title-clinching victory over the . Still just 22 years old, Christopher comes with upside as a player who was selected in the first round of the NBA Draft just three years ago.
He was taken by the with the 24th overall pick in 2021. Thursday’s news represents a commitment from the Heat in investing more time in working with Christopher. But he has already been in the team’s development program for a few months.
Christopher, who ended last season with the Heat’s G League affiliate, began working with Heat coaches in Miami in May to prepare for his summer league opportunity. Christopher is known for his scoring ability, but the Heat has been working to develop the three-and-D aspects of his game. His growth in those areas were on display in summer league, shooting better than 50 percent from deep and totaling 12 steals in six Las Vegas games.
“I’ve been able to play basketball for a long time,” Christopher said after helping the Heat win the Las Vegas Summer League championship. “But I think this Heat culture thing just brought the best out of me. I don’t think I’ve had a series of games better than this in my life, honestly.
” How did the Heat challenge Christopher during offseason work? “They challenged me more so on the defensive end and just told me don’t even worry about offense first,” he said. “So I tried to hang my hat on guarding. I think that has allowed me to play offense much better because I wasn’t worried about it.
” Christopher’s basketball journey to this point in his career has been a winding one — from entering the NBA as a first-round pick with the Rockets, being traded to the Memphis Grizzlies, getting waived by the Grizzlies, signing a two-way deal with the before then being waived by the Jazz in January. Christopher appeared in 138 regular-season NBA games (four starts) during the first two seasons of his professional career. He logged more than 30 minutes in an NBA game six times during that span, scoring 20 or more points in three of those games.
But Christopher did not play in an NBA game in his third NBA season last season, instead appearing in 23 G League games. He began last season with the Jazz’s G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars, before moving to the Heat’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, midway through the season. “So I give him a lot of credit.
He could have easily said, ‘Well, I’m a first-round draft pick. I should be doing this or this. Maybe this didn’t work out and it’s not my fault.
’ He had that willingness to grow and get better, and we’re going to continue to challenge him.” As for Pullin, his time on a two-way contract with the Heat was short-lived. Pullin, who signed a two-way deal with the Heat shortly after going undrafted last month out of Florida, averaged just 5.
3 points, one rebound, 1.7 assists and 0.2 steals per game in six appearances during Las Vegas Summer League.
After beginning summer league as the Heat’s starting point guard, started ahead of Pullin in the final four games in Las Vegas. Pullin is now an unrestricted free agent after being waived by the Heat on Thursday. WHERE HEAT’S ROSTER NOW STANDS The Heat’s preseason roster currently includes 18 players.
The 14 players signed by the Heat to standard contracts for next season are , , , , , , , , , , , , , and . While the Heat’s standard roster remains one short of the regular-season limit of 15 players, the Heat is expected to open this upcoming regular season with 14 players on standard deals — which is permitted by NBA rules — because of its salary-cap crunch. That’s because unless a trade is made to change the salary cap math, the Heat does not have enough room under the punitive second apron to sign a 15th player to a standard contract.
The Heat’s three two-way contract players are Christopher, Johnson and Smith. The Heat also has Stevens, who went undrafted last month out of Colorado State and impressed in summer league, signed to an Exhibit 10 contract. Stevens is the only player who the Heat currently has signed to an Exhibit 10 deal, which is essentially an invite to training camp.
Exhibit 10 contracts also protect players from being signed by another team. The Heat has until the day before the start of the regular season to decide whether to move Stevens to a standard/two-way roster spot or waive him. Among other Heat summer league standouts who remain unsigned and are candidates for an NBA contract are and .
Both Swider and Williams are unrestricted free agents after ending last season on two-way deals with the Heat. NBA teams are allowed to carry up to 21 players under contract in the offseason and preseason. 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 is scheduled to hold its annual media day on Sept. 30 before opening training camp on Oct. 1 to kick off the 2024-25 season.
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