Pacers Acquire Thomas Bryant From Heat

Keith Smith
Keith Smith, Resident NBA ExpertDecember 15, 2024
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The first official trade of the 2024-25 NBA trade season wasn’t a big one, but it was a rare December 15th deal. The Indiana Pacers filled a need in their frontcourt, while the Miami Heat created a little more flexibility around the second apron.

Here are the particulars:

Indiana Pacers acquire: Thomas Bryant

Miami Heat acquire: Right to swap 2031 second-round picks with Indiana

Let’s dive in!

Indiana Pacers

Incoming salary: $2.1 million in 2024-25

  • Thomas Bryant (C, one year, $2.1 million)

Outgoing salary: None

Indiana looked like they had really good depth behind Myles Turner to open the season. Isaiah Jackson has proven to be a solid backup, while James Wiseman was signed as a flyer for additional depth. Unfortunately, within about a week of each other, both Jackson and Wiseman suffered torn Achilles’ tendons. That has both backup centers sidelined for the season.

Now, the Pacers are turning to veteran Thomas Bryant to fill some backup minutes. It’s a homecoming for Bryant, who played his college ball at Indiana University.

Bryant hasn’t played much over the last two seasons, with 48 total appearances for the Miami Heat. In previous stops with the Los Angeles Lakers (twice), the Washington Wizards and Denver Nuggets, Bryant has proven to be a valuable offensive big. The 6-foot-10 center can step out and shoot it some, while being a solid finisher inside. Bryant has also been a dependable rebounder throughout his career.

One quirk of this deal: Because Bryant was traded while on a one-year deal, he’ll lose his Early Bird rights in this trade. When a player is traded while on a one-year deal, they lose their Bird or Early Bird rights. This is why those players can qualify for an implied no-trade clause, so that they don’t unilaterally lose those free agent rights if they’re traded. In Bryant’s case, he waived his right to block a trade. And, given he’s veteran minimum player, this wasn’t all that likely to matter anyway.

As far as the pick goes, it’s an extremely minor cost for the Pacers to get a little bit of frontcourt depth. If Bryant can help Indiana stabilize things behind Turner, a second-round swap will be well worth it.

Miami Heat

Incoming salary: None

Outgoing salary: $2.1 million in 2024-25

  • Thomas Bryant (C, one year, $2.1 million)

Bryant wasn’t in the Heat rotation. Even when Miami was down bodies in their frontcourt behind Bam Adebayo, Erik Spoelstra wasn’t going to Bryant. That made him a very tradable player.

For the Heat, this trade was all about creating a more flexibility under the second apron. Miami isn’t hard-capped at the second apron, but they were closer to that marker than they really wanted to be. Before this trade, the Heat had about $1.6 million in space under the second apron. Now, the Heat have more than $3.7 million in wiggle room under the second apron.

Given Miami has been involved in trade rumors involving Jimmy Butler, who carries a $48.8 million salary, the Heat would likely be taking back quite of bit of salary in a trade. Now, it’s fair to note that Miami may not make a trade involving Butler at all. But if they do, they’ll bring back a good amount of salary in return.

The important thing: In a Butler trade or another deal, the Heat now have more clearance under the apron than they had before getting off Bryant’s salary.

One last note: the Heat are now down to 13 players signed to standard contracts. Miami will have 14 days to get back into roster compliance by signing a 14th player to a standard deal. The Heat can also go up to 28 total days with less than 14 players on standard deals. So, they can game the system a bit by signing and waiving a player, until they max out their 28 total days.


#nba #trade #miami heat #indiana pacers #thomas bryant #thomas bryant
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