Miami Heat rumors: Carmelo Anthony could replace Chris Bosh

The Houston Rockets have had interest in Miami Heat power forward Chris Bosh for some time and they’ve allegedly put a max-offer on the table in effort to sign the former Georgia Tech product. It’s not known if he’ll take such a deal, but the Miami Heat are apparently prepared if he opts for greener pastures.

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According to ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith (via Basketball Insiders), the Miami Heat are preparing to lure Carmelo Anthony to South Beach if Chris Bosh departs in free agency.

"Stephen A. Smith on ESPN: If Chris Bosh signs with the Houston Rockets, the HEAT are going to try to replace him with Carmelo Anthony."

Carmelo Anthony has allegedly been a target of the Miami Heat since free agency broke, though, it seemed rather unrealistic as the original goal was to create a ‘Big 4’ consisting of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and a newly signed Anthony. Of course, for such to happen all four players would have had to take massive salary discounts, something none of them seem to be interested in doing – especially James.

However, if Bosh was to leave and join another team like the Houston Rockets, the Miami Heat would likely have enough to give Carmelo Anthony a near max contract.

Given Chris Bosh is no longer a member of the Miami Heat organization after opting out, such a decision was presumably come down to LeBron James as he can essentially tell the Heat who he’d like to play with.

Certainly a bit of a tangled web, to say the least.