LaMarcus Aldridge Free Agency Rumors: Miami Heat, Lakers Get Meetings, San Antonio Spurs, Suns Options With Blazers Return?

Jul 02, 2015 06:04 PM EDT
LaMarcus Aldridge #12 of the Portland Trail Blazers
LaMarcus Aldridge #12 of the Portland Trail Blazers runs out before the game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center on April 1, 2014 in Los Angeles, California."

LaMarcus Aldridge is the best available free agent left and he will meet with the Miami Heat on Thursday and give the LA Lakers a second meeting after Los Angeles botched the first one and now those teams along with the San Antonio Spurs, Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers remain in the mix to sign Aldridge in free agency.

Aldridge has been entertaining offers from numerous teams and heading into Thursday night there is no clear sign of when he will decide. Aldridge has met with the Suns, Lakers, Rockets and Spurs and now reports have him taking more meetings heading into Friday. According to Marc Stein at ESPN.com, Aldridge is meeting with the Miami Heat on Thursday night and will speak with Pat Riley about potentially signing in Miami.

Pro Basketball Talk writes that Miami does not have the cap space to sign Aldridge, but the team could consider a sign and trade deal or other trades to clear space. Earlier in the week it was reported that the team was considering moving Mario Chalmers, Chris Andersen and/or Shabazz Napier to clear cap space to sign Dwyane Wade and Goran Dragic and those players could be potential options to move. Luol Deng also could be an asset to move after he opted into his deal for next season.

UPDATE: ESPNDallas: LaMarcus Aldridge pausing to consider pitches from multiple teams.

Aldridge is keeping himself busy though, as Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo Sports is reporting that Aldridge will have a second meeting with the Lakers. The reports from the first meeting were not great coming from Aldridge's side and later it was reported that LA was "out of the running" for Aldridge. Clearly that was premature and now Aldridge is giving the Lakers another chance. Aldridge lives in Los Angeles and Wojnarowski reports that at one point it looked like the Lakers and Spurs were the favorites and the team is hoping for a chance "get it right."

All of this comes after the Spurs and Phoenix Suns also met with Aldridge and those teams reportedly impressed the free agent with their separate pitches. The Suns came in with a deal for Tyson Chandler when they met with Aldridge and the team reportedly put themselves in the main conversation with their pitch to Aldridge. The Suns just pulled off a trade with a couple of players to clear cap space and they also could move Eric Bledsoe, while the Spurs made space by trading Tiago Splitter

The Miami Herald reported that Aldridge was the one to seek out the meeting with the Heat and Pat Riley, not the other way around. The two sides are meeting and while a deal would be tough for Miami to pull off, they could trade a combination of Chris Bosh, Mario Chalmers, Luol Deng and Chris Andersen to clear cap space. A team like the Blazers could try and pry away Hassan Whiteside in a sign and trade to get a deal done, but Miami likely will not be willing to give up Whiteside.

Aldridge is the top player left on the market along with DeAndre Jordan and he is being patient with his decision in free agency.

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