Miami Heat had a rather quiet offseason and they haven't managed to sign any big-name free agents. While they were interested in Gordon Hayward, the small forward signed with the Boston Celtics, which triggered Miami's plan B. The plan included bringing their core players back, and they were successful in doing it.

Now, the Heat seem to be thinking about the future as they are finalizing a contract extension with Josh Richardson. Richardson, who is turning 24 tomorrow, had two solid seasons for the Heat. He will be entering his third year in the NBA this October, and Miami intends to keep him in South Beach for at least a few more years.

Richardson's contract extension

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN first reported that the combo guard is finalizing his contract extension with the Miami Heat. According to him, the Heat will extend Richardson's contract by 4 years and the extension will be worth $42 million.

Considering that Josh Richardson is very young, yet very good, this could be a steal for the Heat. If he keeps developing his game the way he did it last two seasons, he could evolve into a star player. Richardson has already shown that he's capable of being a great backup and a decent starter, and he could be the future of the Heat.

Richardson is not only a solid offensive player, but he also works hard on the defensive end and gives his best to lock his man down. While he is far from an elite defender, he has a lot of potential and could be a great two-way player.

Richardson's development with the Heat

Josh Richardson was the 40th overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft and he was selected by Miami.

In his first season, the guard only started two games, but he had 50 appearances off the bench.

As a rookie, Richardson averaged 6.6 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. Although he did not have a big role on the team, he was one of the deadliest three-point shooters as his success rate from the long range was 46.1 percent.

In the second year, J-Rich took his game to a new level and averaged 10.2 points per game. Although his shooting percentages went down, he was one of the major contributors and he started in most of his games. Richardson appeared in 53 games of his sophomore season, starting in 34 of them. Beside scoring, the guard did a great job rebounding the ball and sharing it with his teammates. The sophomore also posted some solid defensive stats, averaging 1.1 steals and 0.7 blocks per game.