"Early on Wednesday, ESPN's Shams Charania broke the news on the Miami Heat and free agent big Precious Achiuwa agreeing to a one-year deal. It will be a reunion for the former 2020 Heat first-round draft pick with Achiuwa, as Pat Riley and the front office ultimately address their backup center hole prior to the start of the upcoming 2025-26 campaign. In Achiuwa's lone rookie season in Miami, the 6-foot-8 big averaged just 5.0 points, 3.4 rebounds and 0.5 blocks on 54% shooting across 61 appearances."
"However, his entire five-year career has consisted of being in a bench role. From 2020-2025, his stats per 36 minutes have consisted of an encouraging 10.9 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 1.2 steals. At the age of 26, Achiuwa has still had that athletic burst on display in recent years as a backup. He remains a serviceable option for what this Heat roster desperately needed, and is familiar with the system here."
"For the Heat to address a long overdue question mark in their depth chart- which had some of the media talking about a three-man frontcourt rotation of Bam Adebayo, Kel'el Ware, and Nikola Jovic- the Achiuwa signing was a home run. He rejoins the franchise that had drafted him on a team friendly deal, and provides a needed body to support Adebayo and Ware down low. Despite being an undersized big, Achiuwa has plenty of bounce, and length, with his 7-foot-2 wings"
Precious Achiuwa signed a one-year, non-guaranteed contract with the Miami Heat to supply backup center minutes, athleticism, and familiarity with the system. He was the Heat's 2020 first-round pick and averaged 5.0 points, 3.4 rebounds and 0.5 blocks as a rookie across 61 games. Subsequent stints with Toronto and New York yielded 8.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game while remaining a bench player across five seasons. His per-36 numbers from 2020–2025 are 10.9 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 1.2 steals. The non-guaranteed one-year deal avoids salary-cap and luxury-tax implications while reinforcing frontcourt depth behind Bam Adebayo.
Read at Hot Hot Hoops - Miami HEAT NBA Blog
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