MIAMI — The Miami Heat have opted to bypass extending a qualifying offer to Omer Yurtseven, making the second-year center an unrestricted free agent.
The Heat had a Thursday deadline to put the $2.3 million qualifying offer in place ahead of Friday’s 6 p.m. start of the NBA free-agency negotiation period.
The Heat therefore lose the right to match outside offers, although anything beyond the $2.3 million qualifying offer likely would have been bypassed, anyway, based on the Heat’s position hard against the NBA luxury tax.
Yurtseven now is free to sign at any amount with any team, including a return to the Heat, who continue to hold his Bird Rights.
Should the Heat bring back Yurtseven, it potentially could be for less than the qualifying offer, an element that could help the team against the punitive NBA luxury tax.
After playing Cody Zeller ahead of Yurtseven during the run to the NBA Finals these past two months, and having opted for Dewayne Dedmon as their reserve center of choice during last year’s run within one victory of the NBA Finals, the Heat made apparent their concerns about Yurtseven’s defensive deficiencies.
The Heat could have extended the qualifying offer with the right to rescind it by July 13 — provided Yurtseven did not sign it in the interim — as was the case with guard Kendrick Nunn in 2021, who went on that summer to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers.
For the Heat, other options to augment Bam Adebayo in the power rotation beyond a trade now could be limited to decisions on whether to bring back Zeller or Kevin Love or sign a veteran big man at the league minimum.
Among potential free-agent centers who could be available at the minimum in free agency are Thomas Bryant, Mo Bamba, Bismack Biyombo, Blake Griffin, Montrezl Harrell, Willie Cauley-Stein, Gorgui Dieng, DeAndre Jordan, Meyers Leonard and Dedmon. The Heat also have the option of upgrading rookie center Orlando Robinson from a two-way contract to a standard deal.
For Yurtseven, 2022-2023 essentially was a lost season, appearing in only nine regular-season games due to ankle surgery. There then were eight mop-up appearances during the playoffs.
The previous time Yurtseven was a free agent, he quickly was signed by the Heat amid a dominant 2021 summer.
Among the reasons Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has turned elsewhere seemingly have been defensive questions, with Yurtseven limited in his lateral movement with his 6-foot-11, 255-pound frame.
During his best of times, Yurtseven put together a stellar stretch in the middle of the 2021-22 season, when he filled in for six weeks while Adebayo recovered from thumb surgery.
Yurtseven said in his season-ending media session that playing time remained his goal in free agency.
“I think my priority is to play, because that’s the way to get better and reach the potential of the team and improve personally so you can help the team win,” he said.
