UNC in the NBA: Miami Heat pick up option on Wayne Ellington

Wayne Ellington to make north of $6 million in second season with Heat

On Friday afternoon, the Miami Heat picked up the second year of Wayne Ellington’s contract after trading Josh McRoberts and shedding the $6 million dollars that was owed to him.

The Heat had a 5 p.m. deadline to waive Ellington before owing him a fully guaranteed contract that totals $6.27 million for the 2017-18 season.

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The contract, which is slightly north of the $6 million that he made in his first season with the Heat, will keep him in Miami for at least one more season before he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2018.

The former North Carolina standout is coming off of one of the best seasons in his eight-year career. He started 13 of the 62 games that he played in last year, averaging 10.5 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. He shot 41.6 percent from the floor, including 37.8 percent from three-point range and 86 percent from the free-throw line.

Ellington has spent each of the last six seasons on a different team, so re-signing with Miami has to offer some much welcomed stability and continuity for the three-point specialist.

Ellington’s three-point shooting percentage last season was just the fourth-best of his career. However, his 149 made three-pointers were substantially more than he’d hit in any other season throughout his career. He also attempted 126 more three-pointers than his previous career-high of 268 with the Brooklyn Nets during the 2015-16 season.

Given that 71 percent of Ellington’s shots last season came from downtown, it’s clear what the Heat are looking to get out of the former Tar Heel. And he could figure heavily into Miami’s plans next season, considering his solid play during a second-half in which the team went 30-11 to close out the season.

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Keeping It Heel will continue checking in on Ellington throughout the offseason and leading up to the start of the regular season.