Former first-round pick Nik Stauskas to sign 10-day contract with Heat

Former lottery pick Nik Stauskas has an agreement in place with the Heat, who intend to sign him to a 10-day contract using a hardship exception, league sources tell Mike Singer of The Denver Post (Twitter link).

The Raptors had a deal in place earlier this month to bring Stauskas aboard on a 10-day hardship deal, but it fell through when he didn’t pass the COVID-19 screening process. Now he’ll head to a Miami team that has been hit hard recently by both injuries and the coronavirus — the Heat had 12 players unavailable on Wednesday, resulting in their game in San Antonio being postponed.

Stauskas, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2014 draft, appeared in 335 regular-season games from 2014-19 for the Kings, Sixers, Nets, Trail Blazers and Cavaliers. He was a fairly reliable three-point threat (.353 3PT%) during that time, but didn’t show enough other skills to stick in the NBA.

After a brief stint overseas, Stauskas signed in the G League for the 2021 bubble and then returned to the NBAGL this season. In 12 games (38.3 MPG) in 2021-22 for the Grand Rapids Gold, the 28-year-old has recorded 21.3 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and 4.4 APG on .429/.352/.915 shooting.

The Heat have already added Kyle Guy and Aric Holman on hardship contracts Thursday and should be able to finalize their agreements with Stauskas and Haywood Highsmith before their game in Houston on Friday.