NBA Rumors: Heat offer Dwyane Wade two-years, $40M deal
By Tom West
The Miami Heat have been struggling to bring back Dwyane Wade in NBA free agency so far, and have now offered him a two-year, $40 million deal.
The Miami Heat were ruled out of the Kevin Durant sweepstakes relatively early on, but still had a major victory in NBA free agency by agreeing to re-sign Hassan Whiteside on a four-year max contract. They have another problem that continues to persist, though. As of right now, they still cannot come to an agreement with Dwyane Wade.
As Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel has confirmed, the Heat’s latest offer was a two-year, $40 million deal with a player option for 2017-18:
"The stalemate with guard Dwyane Wade comes in the wake of a two-year, $40 million offer from the Miami Heat.The Heat offer, which remains on the table, was confirmed to the Sun Sentinel according to a party close to the free-agency negotiations."
As Winderman added in the report when referring to the player option, Wade will obviously have the choice to test the market again next summer when the salary cap rises and could reach an astonishing $107 million. Seeing as Wade clearly isn’t getting the max he would prefer this year, it will be easy for him to cash in with even more money in a year’s time.
As the Heat’s contract battle with Wade continues due to their lack of money to max him and adapt the rest of the roster, reports have emerged that Wade has reached out to teams such as the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks, while even arranging a meeting with the Milwaukee Bucks (seriously, the Bucks).
Yes, this could all simply be a relentless push to gain leverage by Wade to increase the Heat’s offer, but it’s troubling for the team and his fans nonetheless. At the very least, it creates a level of uncertainty.
So, could Dwyane Wade be the next NBA icon we see move this summer? We can’t know yet, but it’s still hard to imagine him and the Heat not working with their immense history to figure something out.
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