Q: Ira, refresh my memory. Who did we decide to keep when we let Max Strus walk away on a contract that looks like a steal now. – Luis, Boca Raton.
A: It wasn’t as much a matter of “keeping” as it was of getting the team’s salary book in order. That was the offseason when, coming off the 2023 NBA Finals, the Heat allowed both Gabe Vincent and Max Strus to walk in free agency. While the Heat acknowledged a counteroffer to Vincent, the sense from the outset was Cleveland’s four-year, $63 million contract to Max was too rich for a team that already had Duncan Robinson on the books for $18.