The Miami Heat have Dwyane Wade and Goran Dragic hitting free agency and the team may look at a Mario Chalmers trade with Chris Andersen to free up cap space to sign the free agents and this comes after Luol Deng opted into his player option and after the team drafted Justise Winslow in the first round of the NBA draft.
Wade and Miami have been at odds over a contract all offseason and that is why it was not a surprise to the team that Wade will not be picking up his player option for this season. According to ESPN.com, Wade will opt out and become a free agent and there is a good chance he will take meetings with other teams. Pro Basketball Talk reports that Miami and Wade may have a difference of $24 million in what they are looking for and that could case Wade to seriously consider leaving Miami. Wade will have options if he does, as the Lakers have shown interest and the Bulls, Cavaliers, Clippers and Knicks also could be landing spots.
UPDATE: Goran Dragic is signing a five year deal with Miami. Per ESPN, Marc Stein.
The team has Dragic on the market and they want to bring him back and Miami is also keeping in mind the fact that they have to pay Hassan Whiteside come next summer. The team also reportedly wants some "financial flexibility" to chase Kevin Durant in free agency in 2016. All of that adds up to Wade opting out and now the team could try and make trades to help sign everyone back. According to Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst of ESPN, league sources report that Miami is looking to trade Mario Chalmers and Chris Andersen to help free up salary cap space to sign Wade and Dragic back.
Chalmers is coming in with a $4.3 million salary and Andersen is getting paid $5 million and they both are in the final year of their deals. Moving the players could be tough, but since they are on expiring contracts there is a chance that teams could be more willing to take them on. Miami wants to keep Dragic and reports have him looking for a max deal between $90 million and $100 million this summer. The Miami Herald reported earlier in the offseason that Wade was looking for a long term deal at around $20 million per season, while the team is looking to pay him less than that.
ESPN Stats & Info tweeted out an interesting nugget about Wade, writing that he has not been the highest paid player on his team since he was drafted over a decade ago. While has not been an "all about the money" player through his career, now he may want to get what he thinks he deserves, as he has taken less money numerous times to help his team out. Dan Le Batard reported that Wade took less money recently for the team to keep Udonis Haslem, while Wade also took less money for Miami to sign LeBron James and Chris Bosh a few years ago.
Miami has a number of concerns this offseason and while they want to keep Wade, there is a chance he could leave this summer. The team gave up draft picks to get Dragic and that is why they likely will try hard to keep him with a max deal.
