Miami Heat rumors: Heat to pursue Luol Deng, Trevor Ariza

Once the Miami lost forward LeBron James to the Cleveland Cavaliers, it looked the Heat may be ready to tear everything they’ve built over the last four years back down.

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It appeared as though big man Chris Bosh was on his way to the Houston Rockets and the Heat would likely keep an aging Dwyane Wade and attempt to rebuild (with the potential for Wade to leave the Heat for a contender, perhaps the hometown Chicago Bulls). Instead, the Heat reached an agreement with Bosh that will pay him $118 million over the next five years. They are also expected to complete a deal with Wade rather quickly, likely signing him (and free agent power forward Udonis Haslem) to a shorter deal.

With Bosh and Wade back, the Heat are clearly trying to win now and will likely be making plenty of calls to free agents over the next few days.

According to Ken Berger of CBS Sports, rival executives expect the Heat to pursue Cleveland Cavaliers’ free agent forward Luol Deng or Washington Wizards’ free agent

Deng averaged 16.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 43.1% from the field, 30.2% from three and 79.1% from the charity stripe last season. Ariza went for 14.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He shot 45.6% from the field, 40.7% from beyond the arc and 77.2% from the free throw line.