NBA Free Agency Rumors: Other teams swooping in for Dwyane Wade

The Miami Heat need to start worrying now. Dwyane Wade will reportedly field offers from other teams and is no guarantee to return to the Miami Heat.

Throughout Dwyane Wade’s career, he has been a team player. With the championship in sights, Wade was always OK taking a bit of a pay cut to give the Miami Heat a shot at winning the title. He took less so the team could attract LeBron James, building that mini-dynasty of four Finals appearances and two championships.

Wade did it again last year, taking a one-year, $20-million contract.

Even with Miami one game away from the Eastern Conference Finals and the news the team had agreed to terms with Hassan Whiteside on a new contract, it is becoming increasingly uncertain Wade will take that pay cut again this year. And the reports he was balking at Miami’s approach to his free agency appear to have legs.

The sharks are circling in Miami trying to pry the three-time champion and future Hall of Famer out of Miami. And a few appear to be willing to make multi-year commitments to Wade, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical.

It has been widely assumed Wade would remain in Miami with the Heat, the same team that drafted him in 2003 and the only home he has ever known. Even if there was some small impasse, it is assumed — and may still be assumed — Wade will end up back in Miami.

Something does feel different this time. After years of taking less than his max salary and sacrificing for the team, there does feel to be a real schism between the Heat and Wade.

Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com reported a few days ago the team and Wade failed to find common ground and Wade’s representatives were prepared to move forward and field offers from others teams. The report states Wade and his representatives were not thrilled with the approach the Heat took to negotiating with perhaps the Heat’s all-time greatest player.

Even at 34 years old, Wade was still a big contributor and leader for the Heat, averaging 19.0 points per game and shooting 45.6 percent from the floor. He may not be able to take over games like he once did, but Wade is still an All-Star caliber player. And he took his game up a level in the Playoffs as he always seems to do.

Seeing him in a jersey besides the Miami Heat would certainly be very strange.

It is still very possible Wade is using this as leverage against the Heat to get a more amenable offer. How real his interest is in leaving Miami will be determined as teams get more serious about possibly stealing him away from South Florida.

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