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NBA Roster Cuts: They Don't Matter; Except When They Do

More photos » Wilfredo Lee - AP

Are you telling me the guy that might be crossing LeBron James up in this picture doesn't matter to the Miami Heat this season? Well, okay, but still.

NBA roster cuts are currently the hot topic around the league (unless you want to count Rudy Fernandez digging himself a deeper hole or Allen Iverson maybe having to go play in Turkey) and thus, it's about the only thing to write about on Ridiculous Upside right now - especially when you factor in that probably half of these players will end up in the NBA Development League this season.

That said, just like the rest of the year, not everything that matters to me is going to matter to everyone else.  Case in point, yesterday Ira Winderman played the "everyone else" I was referencing in the previous sentence compared to my lovely impression of Faith Hill mixed with the "it's still real to me, dammit" guy when he wrote about the Miami Heat releasing Anthony Mason Jr. and Mickell Gladness.

With Monday's excising of Anthony Mason Jr. and Mickell Gladness, the Heat is essentially where it stood entering camp.

Mason and Gladness were the final two added to what became a 20-player camp roster, now the roster is back to the 18 the Heat had been working with prior to camp.

While the next debate will be which of the three remaining players will be cut, that is relatively meaningless in the big picture.

Whether Patrick Beverley, Kenny Hasbrouck, Shavlik Randolph or Da'Sean Butler remain is superfluous. All it means is the survivor will have to go shopping for sports coats, inactive on most nights.

Star-divide

Now, if I were feeling a bit more crotchety (that's what she said), I probably would have lambasted Winderman for not thinking about the little guy that has just lost his chance at fulfilling a dream and will now probably end up playing in South Dakota next season as opposed to South Beach, but instead focusing on the starters that will have plenty of stories written about them all season thanks to the 250ish (rough estimation) writers covering the team exclusively for the next nine months.

However, in the big picture, Anthony Mason Jr. never would have mattered to the Miami Heat - even if he made the roster - and that's something I'll just have to live with when reading writers dedicated to following NBA teams instead of NBA players.

Either way, I'm sure Gladness and Mason Jr. (and eventually Hasbrouck, Randolph, Butler and/or Beverley) all would be quite happy to be able to go "shopping for sports coats" with a guaranteed NBA contract in hand as opposed to worrying where they'll be playing this season.

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Thanks, pops.

I write about basketball players with Ridiculous Upside. I know you'll love it.

by Scott Schroeder on Oct 12, 2025 10:22 PM EDT up reply actions  


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