Dru Smith has been waived by the Miami Heat four times since he went undrafted out of Missouri in 2021. But that doesn’t mean the Heat is done investing time in the 26-year-old guard.
“There’s a lot of people that have a lot of paths,” Heat general manager Andy Elisburg said when asked about Smith during a sit-down interview after a Heat summer league practice in recent days. “Sometimes I think when you look at the number of times he was cut, four times, you have to look at the greater piece of it.”
In other words, context is required.
The first time Smith was waived by the Heat came in 2021 just a few months after he went undrafted. Smith was on an Exhibit 10 tryout contract at the time and the Heat’s plan all along was to release him in order to funnel him to its G League affiliate, where he could unlock his Exhibit 10 bonus.
The second and third time Smith was waived came in the following season within a month of each other. Smith began the 2022-23 season on a two-way contract with the Heat before he was released on Nov. 13, 2022 to open a two-way slot for Orlando Robinson. Then Robinson was waived on Nov. 25, 2022 to bring back Smith on a two-way deal prior to Smith again being waived on Dec. 11, 2022 to get Robinson back on a two-way contract. Smith then signed a two-way contract with the Brooklyn Nets on Jan. 13, 2023 and spent the rest of that season with the Nets.
The fourth time Smith was waived came last season when he had already been ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing ACL reconstruction surgery in his right knee. Smith entered last season on a standard NBA contract with the Heat before being waived on March 6 to make room on its roster for the addition of a healthy and available player in veteran guard Patty Mills.
But the Heat never actually fully parted ways with Smith, as he remained around the team even after being released in March. He continued to rehab from knee surgery with the help of the Heat and even attended some practices and film sessions despite no longer being on the roster for the final few weeks of the season.
Then when the Heat had an opportunity to lock Smith into another contract this offseason, it didn’t hesitate. The Heat brought back Smith on a two-way contract early in free agency on July 1.
“The way this organization has treated me, it’s unbelievable,” Smith said while in Las Vegas this week to take in summer league and also continue his work with Heat coaches and trainers. “I’m very appreciative of it. At the same time, I’m going to go out there and do everything I can for them, as well. I think the love is reciprocated both ways, which I really appreciate. I just want to continue to get back healthy and then be able to get back out there for this team.”
Smith is still working his way back from last season’s devastating knee injury, which he suffered during a Nov. 22 road win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in what he labels as a “freak accident.”
The court in Cleveland is elevated for better fan sight lines, featuring a ledge with a drop-off in front of each bench. Smith was injured when he inadvertently stepped over that ledge while attempting to close out on a corner three-point shot from Cavaliers forward Max Strus.
“I feel like I’m doing really well,” Smith said of where he stands in the recovery process. “6.5 months post-op right now, I think. I’m feeling pretty good. I feel like I’m getting back to moving normally. Just taking it day by day still, trying to make sure I’m not rushing anything. Just making sure I’m healthy, first and foremost, and then just trying to get back.”
Smith added that his “personal goal is to be back by camp” in early October.
“I think it’s very feasible,” he said of the possibility of being ready to take part in training camp. “But you never know, these things are day by day. So as long as everything goes smoothly, I think that’s kind of the plan. But like I said, it’s always up in the air. We just got to make sure everything is going right.”
One of the reasons that Smith is back with the Heat is because he impressed in his role as a fill-in point guard last season prior to suffering a season-ending injury.
Last regular season prior to the injury, Smith totaled 39 points on 15-of-33 (45.5 percent) shooting from the field and 7-of-17 (41.2 percent) shooting from three-point range, 14 rebounds, 14 assists, nine steals and three blocks in 131 minutes over nine appearances (zero starts). He only committed five turnovers during his time on the court.
Smith has appeared in 24 NBA games (one start) during his career.
“I think we like Dru a lot,” Elisburg said. “We liked Dru last year. That’s obviously why he made the team, and I think we really liked the things we were seeing Dru do before he had the unfortunate injury.
“Now that there is an opportunity to sign him again and it’s on a two-way, so there’s a little bit more flexibility in terms of the expectations off of the two-way. But we’re optimistic that he’s going to continue to improve and hopefully we’ll see where he is in the fall — in terms of getting better and healthier. But you want to see if that continues on. But we’re excited for having an opportunity to have him back into camp and see what he’s able to do.”
Two-way contracts do not count toward the salary cap, luxury tax or aprons and allow for players to be on their NBA team’s active list for as many as 50 regular-season games, but do not come with playoff eligibility.
Two-way deals can be swapped out at any time and a few Heat summer league standouts are making strong cases for those spots. Among the two-way contract candidates from the Heat’s summer league team are Josh Christopher, Isaiah Stevens, Cole Swider and Alondes Williams.
But the Heat’s three two-way contract slots are currently filled with Keshad Johnson, Zyon Pullin and Smith. So for now, Smith is holding one of the Heat’s three two-way deals with the goal of showing this upcoming season why the Heat has stuck with him over the years.
“They’ve treated me really well through all of this,” Smith said. “Even when I wasn’t even on the team [late last season], they still allowed me to come in for film sessions and to watch practice and still kind of be in it every day, still be able to learn, still be able to be around the guys, things like that. ... They’ve treated me extremely well. I just want to make sure that’s conveyed. I’m really appreciative of it, for sure.”
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