Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat have a long and battled history. He has stayed with the organization ever since being drafted by them in 2003. Since then, he has won 3 NBA Championships, and one Finals MVP. He’s essentially a hall of famer and one of the best Miami Heat players ever. Now he may leave the city of Miami. According to reports yesterday, Dwyane and the Heat are ‘very far apart’ in negotiations for his contract extension. Dwyane is an aging athlete with a long list of injuries, but the man deserves some respect, he is still a top 30 player in this league.
Wade took a salary cut last year in order to be able to re-sign big free agents in Chris Bosh and LeBron James, which they almost did. Wade now has a $15 million dollar yearly salary. According to Ethan Skolnick of Bleacher Report:
“Some Heat officials had held out hope Wade would take the Dirk, Duncan approach late in career: below-market, 1-year deals….
That was never a given. Wade made it clear when he opted out (costing himself $6M in ’14-15), he had TV windfall in mind…
If Dragic signs to #’s expected, Wade wd be 3rd-highest paid on team in 15-16. If Whiteside develops, cd be 4th/5th in 16-17….
This is a rare situation where neither side really has the leverage. Management & the player r both incredibly popular…..
Finally, if Wade went anywhere, at any point, I’ve typically heard L.A. as an option. But I still expect Heat to sort this out.”
If Wade does opt-out which I doubt will happen, the Lakers, Cavaliers, or maybe his home town of Chicago are very interesting options that he may have.
