Heat adding Patty Mills for further guard depth. Caleb Martin playing through pain and more

The Miami Heat’s mid-season makeover at the guard position continues.

After trading Kyle Lowry and a lottery-protected first-round pick for Terry Rozier in late January and adding Delon Wright on the buyout market during the All-Star break in February, the Heat is now signing veteran guard Patty Mills, league sources confirmed to the Miami Herald on Tuesday. Mills is the third different guard who the Heat has added to its 15-man roster in the last six weeks.

With the Heat already at the 15-player maximum for standard contracts, it will waive guard Dru Smith to make room for Mills. Smith, whose salary for next season was non-guaranteed, is out for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on his right knee in late December.

The Heat will sign Mills to a minimum contract for the rest of the season, according to a league source. The move has not yet been formally announced by the team.

The signing of Mills serves as protection amid uncertainty surrounding Heat guard Josh Richardson’s status for the rest of the season. Richardson will miss his eighth straight game on Tuesday night against the visiting Detroit Pistons with a dislocated right shoulder and there’s still no clear timetable for his potential return.

The Heat is also currently without guard Tyler Herro, who will miss his fifth straight game on Tuesday with a right foot injury.

Mills, 35, averaged 2.7 points, 1.1 rebounds, 0.7 assists and 0.5 steals per game while shooting 37.3 percent from the field and 38.2 percent from three-point range in a limited role for the Atlanta Hawks this season. He appeared in 19 games for the Hawks — all off the bench — and played 10.6 minutes per game before he was waived on Feb. 29.

Because Mills was waived by March 1, he will be eligible to play for the Heat in this season’s playoffs.

Mills is in his 15th NBA season, and this transition from the Hawks to the Heat marks the first time he has changed teams in the middle of a season during his NBA career.

The last time Mills played more than 20 minutes per game in a season came in the 2021-22 campaign, when he averaged 11.4 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in 29 minutes per game over 81 regular-season appearances (48 starts) for the Brooklyn Nets.

Mills has played in 95 playoff games (11 starts) during his NBA career. The 6-foot-2 native of Australia won an NBA championship as a member of the San Antonio Spurs, defeating the Heat in the 2014 NBA Finals.

Mills has shot 38.9 percent on 4.4 three-point attempts per game during his 15-year NBA career.

With Mills replacing Smith, the Heat remains at the 15-player maximum for standard contracts.

The Heat is also at the three-player maximum for two-way deals with Jamal Cain, Cole Swider and Alondes Williams signed to such contracts. Monday was the final day for NBA teams to sign players to two-way contracts, which do not come with playoff eligibility.

MARTIN READY TO PLAY

Despite receiving six stitches on a mouth laceration following Saturday’s home win over the Utah Jazz, Heat forward Caleb Martin will be available to play on Tuesday against the Pistons.

Martin left Saturday’s game with 2:11 left in the fourth quarter after teammate Jimmy Butler’s hand inadvertently hit him in the mouth. Martin was unable to speak to reporters after the win, getting dressed in the locker room with gauze in his mouth to help stop the bleeding.

But following Tuesday’s morning shootaround, he spoke to reporters about that unfortunate moment.

“It was tough, especially with two minutes left,” Martin said, sporting a swollen lip. “But I’ll be alright. It’s not my first time, it won’t be my last.”

Martin is also playing through a sprained left thumb he suffered during Thursday’s loss to the Nuggets in Denver.

But the Heat will be without Cain (G League), Herro (right foot medial tendinis), Kevin Love (right heel bruise), Richardson (right shoulder dislocation) and Williams (G League) against the Pistons.

WRIGHT’S FEAT

Wright now has nine assists and zero turnovers as a member of the Heat and 91 and 11 for the season, one of the top two ratios in the league.

“Definitely aware” of those numbers, he said. “I really hate turning the ball over. I don’t know what it is about turnovers. I just really hate them.”

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra characterized Wright as “a smart, winning player. He fits right in.”

Among those who reached out to Wright after he played well as a starter in Sacramento last week: Former Heat wing Quentin Richardson, who in January suggested to Spoelstra and team president Pat Riley that they pursue Wright.

“I was thanking him for being one of the first people to put this in motion,” Wright said of Richardson.

Wright started in Rozier’s absence in last week’s win at Sacramento, but played 17 minutes on Tuesday in Portland and three on Thursday in Denver. He did not play in Saturday’s win over the Jazz in Miami.

▪ Nuggets coach Mike Malone said Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. is “a really skilled player. High IQ... Hasn’t shot the three nearly as well as late. But [had the] 26 points in Sacramento. Crafty. For a rookie, he’s very mature.”

▪ The Heat drew praise from opponents throughout their Western road swing.

“They play with a lot of speed and poise on both ends of the floor. They’re really aggressive,” Denver center and defending Finals MVP Nikola Jokic said after the Nuggets’ 103-97 win. “They know what they’re doing and it’s hard to play against that team.”

After the Heat’s 121-110 win at Golden 1 Center, Sacramento guard De’Aaron Fox said “it’s like a running joke. Regardless of who Miami puts out there, it looks like that’s a team that played in the Finals or played together for a while.

“They have guys who do their job and they have guys who come out, regardless of how long they’ve been with the team, they play hard. So it’s just their continuity. They play hard. They understand what they need to do.”