The ‘Big Three’ of the 2010 free agent class this summer are Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. Well according to sources from Yahoo! Sports, it’s looking like two of the three big names will land in Miami to try and resurrect the Heat to their championship form from only a few short years ago. Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade are planning to announce their signing with the Miami Heat this afternoon.
The internet and blogosphere has been on fire this morning with talk of Lebron James announcing his plans for contract signing on Thursday on an ESPN special. Bosh and Wade apparently are still holding out hope that the Heat will land Lebron to complete the trifecta and make them a dominant force in the league for years to come:
Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh have decided to sign with the Miami Heat while continuing to recruit LeBron James to help them form an All-Star triumvirate that threatens to shift the NBA’s balance of power, two sources with knowledge of the plans told Yahoo! Sports.
“They think they’ve got a real chance to pull this off with LeBron,” a league source said.
Said an official with one team that made a formal presentation to James: “It’s down to Cleveland or Miami for him.”
The three players shared a call after midnight on Wednesday, when Wade and Bosh told James they were committing to the Heat, a source said. James didn’t commit with them, but kept his own plans private for a television announcement on Thursday night. Wade and Bosh plan to formally announce their decision on Wednesday afternoon.
Still, Wade and Bosh decided they needed to make a commitment to give them the best possible chance of luring more talent – including James – with the additional salary-cap space in Miami.
Other teams bidding for James were unclear on Thursday morning of his plans, although Cleveland was still believed to lead Chicago, New Jersey and possibly the New York Knicks.
Although the Heat is an attractive option for James, don’t rule out the hometown Cavaliers as his possibly destination, especially if they can land a big man like Carlos Boozer in the coming 24-48 hours.
And what about the Knicks? Everyone is ruling them out of the Lebron sweepstakes at this point, but you can bet that Lebron is considering what it would be like to team up with Amare Stoudemire and take on the Wade-Bosh duo in a potentially epic rivalry for the future.
Stay tuned. More after the jump…
