Dwyane Wade wouldn't leave the Miami Heat, would he? The star guard who has been a member of the Heat since they drafted him in 2003 has reportedly hit an impasse with the team in contract talks. He took a pay cut last summer and signed a two-year deal, which will pay him $16.1 million next season if he doesn't opt out. His preference is to become a free agent, then re-sign for three years, per the Miami Herald's Barry Jackson:
Though Wade prefers to stay with the Heat, where he has spent his entire 12-year career, he is now open to considering other teams this summer if the Heat does not raise its offer, according to three sources with direct knowledge.
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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.
In a follow-up story, the Herald noted that a Wade associate thinks that the Heat believe he's bluffing. It is odd to hear about disagreements between this particular player and this particular franchise because they've been synonymous for so long, but this is business. And this is professional pride, too, from a guy who has won three championships with this team. Here's are a few reasons why things could get complicated:
1) The pay cut that Wade took last year is significant. He sacrificed about $6 million, which gave Miami more flexibility in free agency. This is probably the difference between the Heat having Luol Deng and not having him. Wade is 33 years old with a lot of mileage on his knees, and this is where veteran stars usually want to sign deals that will keep them highly compensated until they walk away. It sounds like he wants to know he's valued like other players of his stature.
2) No one knows exactly what Wade would make on the open market. He was fantastic last season, but missed 20 games. Miami might think he'd struggle to get a raise from another team, though the rising cap in 2016 makes me skeptical about that. Still, would he really leave that city for a few extra million?
3) The Heat are in an interesting position, cap-wise. They have plenty of cap space at the moment, but they're ready to commit big money to Goran Dragic in free agency this summer. This time next year, they'll be hoping to re-sign Hassan Whiteside, who will be an unrestricted free agent and should command a monstrous salary if he plays as well as he did this season. Chris Bosh is already on a max deal, too. It's not unrealistic for Miami to give Wade a raise in this context, but it could potentially hamper its ability to get deeper.
