Last updated: 9/30/2019
Last updated: 9/30/2019
Last updated: 9/30/2019

2025 Free Agents - Alec Burks
Burks has shown flashes of solid offensive play throughout his career, as getting to the rim and finishing as always been his primary skill. Unfortunately, when you look at Burks' finishing numbers, his field goal percentage for shots at the rim has been below average each year of his career, according to Cleaning the Glass. He hit just 42% of his shots at the rim in '24-'25, which is at the bottom of the league for his position, and isn't that much worse than what he has shown the last few seasons too. Earlier in his career, Burks shot a decent percentage from three on a tiny number of attempts, but Burks has turned into a legitimate shooter from outside, hitting over 40% from three over the last six seasons, including hitting some off-the-dribble. He'll even take some off-the-dribble threes in pick-and-roll if the defense goes under or if he has enough room against a drop coverage big. Burks has some creation ability that is valuable for a bench wing, and he has turned into a good enough shooter to be respected off the ball. However, his efficiency struggles from two are concerning. He had a decently efficient season for the Heat in '24-'25, posting a true shooting above 60%, but overall wasn't a real difference-maker for them, as he didn't always get consistent minutes. Burks will be nearly 34 years old as a free agent in 2025, so I wouldn't expect him to get any long-term offers, but he maybe can still be a solid rotational piece.
Summary
Burks will be an unrestricted free agent with a $2.3 million cap hold and Non-Bird Rights. This means that the highest starting salary the Heat could offer him using the Non-Bird Exception is $4.4 million. This may be enough to retain Burks, since he settled for the minimum to come to Milwaukee. Alternatively, the Heat could use their Mid-Level Exception or Bi-Annual Exception (if available) to re-sign Burks if he demands more than $4.4 million. Other teams will have multiple ways to sign Burks as even teams without cap space could possibly use the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, Taxpayer MLE, or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. It's also likely that Burks only gets minimum offers again, and may not even get fully-guaranteed offers.
Cap Considerations
Delon Wright (1 year minimum, 2024) Reggie Jackson (1 year minimum, 2024) Eric Gordon (1+1 year minimum, 2024)