Imagine Dwyane Wade wearing another NBA team’s uniform.
I know, you can’t.
But you have no choice.
The 33-year-old shooting guard isn’t getting along with the Miami Heat at the moment, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald (h/t CBS Sports):
Wade said last summer that he was curious to see what he could command in the summer of 2016, when the cap is expected to skyrocket from $67 million to $89 million. That led to the belief that Wade would opt-in this summer.
But according to associates, Wade wants to opt out this summer, with the hope that the Heat would give him a lucrative three-year deal that would extend past his 36th birthday.
That does not appear to be the Heat’s preference. The Heat apparently would be content with Wade opting in for next season, then re-signing for good, but not huge, money for another two seasons after that.
Regardless of whether Wade opts out or not, there is believed to be a sizable gap between what Wade would like over the next three seasons and what the Heat would prefer to pay him.
Before you go sounding the alarm or banging pots and pans with a wooden spoon, Bleacher Report’s Ethan Skolnick, who covered the Heat for many years and has a great pulse on these sorts of things, dropped some tidbits of his own:
Some preliminary thoughts on the early contract impasse, first reported by @flasportsbuzz, between the Heat & Dwyane Wade (1st)…
— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) May 28, 2015
… (2nd) Some Heat officials had held out hope Wade would take the Dirk, Duncan approach late in career: below-market, 1-year deals….
— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) May 28, 2015
…. (3rd) That was never a given. Wade made it clear when he opted out (costing himself $6M in '14-15), he had TV windfall in mind…
— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) May 28, 2015
…. (4th) If Dragic signs to #'s expected, Wade wd be 3rd-highest paid on team in 15-16. If Whiteside develops, cd be 4th/5th in 16-17….
— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) May 28, 2015
… (5th) This is a rare situation where neither side really has the leverage. Management & the player r both incredibly popular…..
— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) May 28, 2015
…. (6th) Finally, if Wade went anywhere, at any point, I've typically heard L.A. as an option. But I still expect Heat to sort this out.
— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) May 28, 2015
It’s more than likely that Wade will end up staying in Miami, if only because, while both he and the Heat have/don’t have leverage, he has the edge in general.
Without him, the Heat’s core could fall apart. Would Goran Dragic want to re-sign? Would Chris Bosh be happy? Would Miami still be a hot-button destination for free agents?
On the other hand, Dragic wants to play faster. Though Wade is still athletic enough to run the break and push the pace, he’s operating on creaky knees and hasn’t cracked 70 games since the 2010-11 season, his first with LeBron James.
Letting him walk would be a way of opening up the roster and allowing the Heat to rebuild properly, assembling talent that complements how they’ll try and run things on the offensive end.
Then again, don’t hold your breath. If the Heat were going to rebuild, they wouldn’t have forked over two first-rounders for Dragic. More importantly, while basketball is a business, Wade and the Heat have made a big deal over the longevity and authenticity of their partnership.
He isn’t going anywhere.
