MIAMI — Forward Andrew Wiggins on Monday exercised the $30.2 million player option on the final season on his Miami Heat contract, the South Florida Sun Sentinel has confirmed through at NBA source, making him eligible to be dealt for the first time since February’s NBA trading deadline.

Wiggins faced a 5 p.m. ET Monday deadline with his player option ahead of Tuesday’s 6 p.m. start of NBA free agency.

In addition, Wiggins extended for two additional seasons, on what becomes a $64 million package that includes a player option for 2028-29. The savings against the salary cap/luxury tax in Wiggins’ reworked deal will come in the final two seasons, with a salary at $16.5 million in 2027-28 and $17.5 million in that 2028-29 player-option season.

The next step will be to see whether the Heat puts that salary into play on the personnel market, or whether Wiggins will continue on after playing the past 1 1/2 seasons under Erik Spoelstra.

For now, Wiggins stands as part of a remodeled Heat core along with Bam Adebayo and prized newcomer Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Next up for the Heat is the work needed to further remake a roster that lost Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis and draft capital in the trade to acquire Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks, a deal that cannot be made official until the July 6 start of the NBA’s 2026-27 cap calendar.

The Heat now have approximately $19 million below their hard cap at the first luxury-tax apron to fill out the balance of their 2026-27 roster, a hard cap created by the Antetokounmpo trade.

Based on the requirement of cap holds for minimum-salary slots to fill out a 14-player standard roster (one below the league maximum), the Heat would then be limited to to $12.5 million in additional spending power.

The machinations with Wiggins’ extension should work toward getting the Heat below the luxury tax in 2027-28, and therefore preventing the triggering of the punitive repeater luxury tax.

Wiggins was acquired at the February 2025 NBA trading deadline along with Davion Mitchell, Kyle Anderson and a first-round draft choice in the deal that sent Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors.

Since that deal, the Heat traded away Anderson last summer in the deal that landed guard Norman Powell from the Los Angeles Clippers, and this past week dealt the player selected with that pick from the Warriors, with Jakucionis sent to the Bucks.

Wiggins, 31, who declined to speak at the Heat’s exit interviews in April, spoke privately a week earlier to the Sun Sentinel about what might come next.

“I’m not sure yet,” he said. “Obviously, I love Miami.”

While Wiggins closed the season as he started at small forward, he also spent considerable time this past season as an undersized power forward.

According to Basketball Reference’s play-by-play breakdown, Wiggins, at 6 feet 7, 210 pounds, was cast at power forward 35% of his minutes this past season, small forward 49% and shooting guard 16%.

Now, with Antetokounmpo on board, in a return it would mean Wiggins back at his natural lineup role.

Wiggins arguably is coming off the best shooting season of his career. His .784 from the foul line and .414 on 3-pointers were career highs, with his .475 from the field just two percentage points off his career best.

Wiggins also excelled on the defensive end.

“He guards one through five for us. He guards at the top of the zone for us. He’s able to do all the switching that we do with certain lineups,” Spoelstra said at midseason.

“Sometimes, because he’s so effective defensively, you forget that this guy was a big-time scorer earlier in his career.”

Asked about years vs. salary when it came to a contract decision, Wiggins politely demurred.

“I’ll probably become more engaged with it when the time comes,” he said at season’s end. “But I love Miami, and I’m happy here.”

His season ended with a 27-point performance in the Heat’s overtime play-in loss to the Charlotte Hornets.

“I always believe in myself and what I can do,” he said. “That’s all I need to know.”

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