The Miami Heat reportedly are adding several undrafted rookies through summer invites this offseason.
Confirmed as accepting Heat summer invites:
Southern Cal's Drew Peterson
Villanova's Caleb Daniels
Washington State's Justin Powell
Marist's Patrick Gardner
Utah State's Taylor Funk
W. Illinois' Trenton Massner
Ga. Tech's Ja'von Franklin
Northwestern's Chase Audige— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) June 23, 2023
The Heat have been one of the best teams in the NBA at finding undrafted talent, with Gabe Vincent, Max Strus, Duncan Robinson, Caleb Martin and Haywood Highsmith all contributing to the team in the 2022-23 season when it made the NBA Finals.
It’s possible that one of the team’s summer invites could find their way onto the roster in the 2023-24 season.
Here’s a breakdown of each of the players that Miami is adding:
Drew Peterson, Guard, University of Southern California (USC)
Shortly after the 2023 NBA Draft, Peterson agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal with Miami.
At 6-foot-9, Peterson is a bigger guard that played five years in college, two at Rice University and three at USC. For his career, he shot 35.8 percent from beyond the arc, and in the 2022-23 season, he averaged 13.9 points per game for the Trojans.
Caleb Daniels, Guard, Villanova University
Caleb Daniels is another older guard who spent four seasons at Villanova (redshirting in one) and two seasons at Tulane University.
For his college career, Daniels averaged 11.6 points per game while shooting 35.8 percent from 3. He started every game he appeared in for Villanova last season and averaged 14.2 points per game.
Justin Powell, Guard, Washington State University
Powell is a great shooter from beyond the arc, hitting 42.6 percent of his 3-point shots last season for the Cougars.
A three-year collegiate player, Powell had career averages of 7.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. He started all 34 games he appeared in last season for Washington State.
Patrick Gardner, Center, Marist College
Gardner, who looks to be a stretch big man, was extremely impressive in his lone season at Marist, averaging 19.1 points and 6.6 rebounds per game while shooting 49.7 percent from the field and 38.3 percent from 3.
Taylor Funk, Forward, Utah State University
A six-year collegiate player, Funk shot 35.7 percent from beyond the arc during his collegiate career, and he thrived in the Mountain West Conference, averaging 13.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game for Utah State last season.
Trenton Massner, Guard, Western Illinois University
A two-time All-Summit Conference selection, Massner is a guard that did it all for Western Illinois.
In the 2022-23 season, he averaged 19.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game.
Ja’von Franklin, Forward, Georgia Tech University
After playing very little in his first two collegiate seasons at Auburn University, Franklin put together a strong third season at the University of South Alabama before transferring to Georgia Tech.
He’s not a shooter (15.4 percent from 3 in his collegiate career), but Franklin did average 9.7 points and 8.1 rebounds per game for the Yellow Jackets last season.
Chase Audige, Guard, Northwestern University
Audige started nearly every game that he played in at Northwestern, winning the 2022-23 Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Year with Rutgers University’s Caleb McConnell.
Audige also averaged 14.1 points per game during his final season with the Wildcats.
