The Miami Heat announced today that they have declined to match the offer sheet restricted free agent forward Jamario Moon signed with Cleveland, making him a member of the Cavaliers.
“After contemplating Cleveland’s offer to Jamario Moon for the past week, we have decided not to match,” said HEAT President Pat Riley. “We declined to match because we want to stay true to our plan of not adding salary to our 2010 cap and matching it would have reduced our flexibility. Michael Beasley will be getting significant minutes at both forward positions and this opens up more opportunities for him to become the player we all expect him to be. We would like to thank Jamario for his contributions to our organization and helping us get back to the playoffs last season. We wish him the best in the future.”
Moon was acquired by the HEAT from the Toronto Raptors along with Jermaine O’Neal in exchange for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks on Feb. 13, 2009. He appeared in 80 games (60 starts) last year for the HEAT and Raptors and averaged 7.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.08 steals and 25.9 minutes while shooting 46.8 percent from the floor and 85 percent from the foul line. Additionally, he led the NBA in steals-to-turnover ratio (2.00). He appeared in 26 games (21 starts) after being acquired by Miami and averaged 7.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 26.5 minutes while shooting 45.9 percent from the floor and 86.7 percent from the foul line.