Here’s why: If the Heat this summer locks up Adebayo to a max contract (or something close to it) that he appears increasingly likely to command, his full salary would be on the Heat’s books for the 2021-22 season, thus drastically reducing Miami’s cap space in the summer of 2021. But if the Heat doesn’t extend him this summer — and instead allows Adebayo to enter restricted free agency in the summer of 2021 — Miami could sign outside free agents first and then sign Adebayo to a new five-year deal in the 2021 offseason, with a cap charge of $15.3 million for that 2021-22 season regardless of what Miami pays him.