Vladislav Goldin #50 of the Miami Heat slam dunks over Tarris Reed Jr. #10 of the San Antonio Spurs during the first half in the California Classic a NBA Summer League game at Chase Center on July 03, 2026 in San Francisco.
Thearon W. Henderson
Getty Images
The Miami Heat remains committed to center Vlad Goldin … for now.
With Monday representing the final day that NBA teams could withdraw qualifying offers from restricted free agents to make them an unrestricted free agent, the Heat’s two-way contract qualifying offer remains in place for Goldin and now can’t be rescinded. Goldin is the only player who holds a qualifying offer from Miami.
Goldin, 25, is now guaranteed at least a two-way contract salary from the Heat for this upcoming season after also spending last season on a two-way deal with Miami in the wake of going undrafted out of Michigan last year. But Goldin can still accept a standard deal from another team until he signs the two-way contract qualifying offer from the Heat.
“Vlad has put the work in,” Heat assistant coach and summer league head coach Wayne Ellington said. “He’s been in the gym consistently this offseason. He’s worked with us, he’s continued to grind and get better. He’s been in the weight room, he’s been on the court and he’s a competitor, as well. We’re trying to help him play to his strengths, we’re trying to keep him as close to the basket as possible defensively to protect the paint. He’s really gotten better and better at that. So he’s developing. He wants it, he’s grinding for it.”
Two-way contracts, which pay $678,882 (half the NBA rookie minimum) and do not count toward the salary cap or luxury tax, allow for players to be on their NBA team’s active list for as many as 50 regular-season games with other game action having to come in the G League. Two-way deals can be swapped out at any time and do not come with NBA playoff eligibility.
The only player who the Heat currently has signed to a two-way contract is guard Tre Donaldson. NBA teams are allowed to have up to three players signed to two-way deals at any one time.
Goldin, who starred at Florida Atlantic for three seasons before closing his college career at Michigan, currently has $91,000 guaranteed included in his qualifying offer from the Heat.
“I’m excited,” Goldin said of his opportunity to return to the Heat for the start of his second NBA season. “Just being able to be in a place where I am right now, and that’s all I want. I want to have opportunity. I want to play and play in the summer league. That’s a blessing. It’s amazing. Do something that you love to do and have an opportunity to do it on the highest level.”
But Goldin has sometimes struggled this summer league, finishing Monday’s Las Vegas Summer League loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers with four points on 0-of-6 shooting from the field and 0-of-1 shooting on threes, eight rebounds and two blocks.
Goldin has averaged eight points, 6.3 rebounds and two blocks per game while shooting 31.6% from the field and 0 of 1 on threes across his first three Las Vegas Summer League appearances this season.
The Heat (1-2 in Las Vegas Summer League) has just two games left in Las Vegas before the end of summer league: on Thursday vs. Toronto Raptors (9 p.m., ESPN2) and Friday vs. Detroit Pistons (9 p.m., ESPN).
“This is all part of Vlad’s development,” Ellington said. “This whole summer league, this is all part of his development. He’ll continue to get better.”
Goldin (7 feet and 255 pounds) spent most of his first season with the Heat in the G League, averaging 12.3 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.9 blocks per game while shooting 59.2% from the field and 12 of 32 (37.5%) from three-point range for the Sioux Falls Skyforce last season.
Goldin logged only 24 minutes across nine games in the NBA with the Heat last season.
“First thing is probably defense,” Goldin said of what he has worked on this offseason. “Miami is obviously, they want to be a team that can get a stop and that’s something that I try to match. I try to be a better defender. But I try to be able to space the floor as well. There’s not one thing I worked at. There are so many things. But two main focuses are defense and spacing the floor.”
Goldin revealed that Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told him this offseason that he needs “to be a little bit quicker, be a better defender off ball and on ball.”
“That’s a big emphasis for Vlad,” Ellington said. “We want him as close to the paint as possible on every defensive possession, protecting the paint, protecting the rim. He’s continuing to get better and better at it. Obviously we got to continue to work with him and develop him on doing it with discipline.”
Football or basketball?
Heat summer league forward Ian Schieffelin was playing on the football field just a few months ago.
Schieffelin played four seasons of basketball at Clemson, but he also played football at Clemson for one season as a tight end. He caught two passes for 10 yards in eight game appearances across 20 snaps last season.
“It’s a huge blessing,” Schieffelin said. “I mean, not many people can really say that they’ve done kind of what I’ve done over the past year. It’s been just a blessing getting back into basketball and just the Heat organization taking a chance on me for summer league and just giving me an opportunity.”
Schieffelin, who is listed at 6-foot-8 and 240 pounds, isn’t the most skilled player on the basketball court. But he plays with physicality and effort, averaging 7.7 points and 2.7 rebounds per game while shooting 46.7% from the field and 3 of 8 (37.5%) on threes in three Las Vegas Summer League games for the Heat this month.
“He’s just a physical player,” Ellington said of Schieffelin. “He plays the right way. He’s always trying to make the right play. He can shoot it from distance. He’s very physical. He’s one of those connectors out there on the floor that glues the units together.”
Ian Schieffelin #75 of the Miami Heat dunks against the Milwaukee Bucks in the second half of a 2026 NBA Summer League game at the Thomas & Mack Center on July 10, 2026 in Las Vegas. Ethan Miller Getty Images
Schieffelin, 23, averaged 12.4 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game while shooting 49.5% from the field and 29 of 85 (34.1%) on threes as a senior at Clemson last season.
“I’m still trying to get my wind for basketball and I feel it on the court,” Schieffelin admitted. “But football is a little bit of a six-second short burst is what they tell you for a play and basketball can be a long time if no one’s making shots.”
Schieffelin, who is working to earn a training camp invite/contract from the Heat, believes he could have been invited to an NFL training camp if he had pursued football. But he’s “all in” on basketball.
“I‘m all in on basketball now,” Schieffelin said. “This is where my heart is and just any opportunity I can get is a blessing, and I’m going to take it and do what I can with it.”
This and that
▪ In the wake of the physical altercation between former Heat teammates Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro at a practice court set up outside of Resorts World Las Vegas on Friday morning, Herro told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne that he wants to move on.
“Honestly, I’m just trying to move past all of it,” Herro told ESPN. “I’m focused on Milwaukee and building something special. They obviously just traded the greatest player in their history, so we want to come in and help continue what they’ve been doing.”
Herro was dealt to the Bucks this offseason as part of the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade.
▪ ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Spoelstra’s Team USA coaching staff will include Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault, Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and Gonzaga head coach Mark Few.
Spoelstra will be Team USA’s head coach for the 2027 World Cup in Qatar and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
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Miami Herald
Anthony Chiang covers the Miami Heat for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and was born and raised in Miami.