Miami Heat superstars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh met with free agent MVP LeBron James Wednesday on South Beach. The meeting was first reported by the Miami Herald.
Wade, Bosh, and LeBron had been expected to sit down to discuss the future after LeBron opted-out of his contract on Tuesday. The trio, known as Miami’s Big Three, has big decisions to make in the next week that will help determine the future of the Heat.
According to the Associated Press’ Tim Reynolds, Dwyane Wade has not made a decision on what he will do yet, but a second source told Reynolds that the Big Three summit was “good.”
Source tells AP that Dwyane Wade has made no decision yet. Second source calls the Big 3 summit today "good and positive." — Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) June 26, 2014
LeBron got the ball rolling by opting out of his contract. Now the pressure is on Wade and Bosh to decide whether or not they will opt-out of their contracts as well. If they do, the Big Three can re-sign with Miami for more cap-friendly contracts and give the team flexibility to surround them with a good supporting cast.
Bosh said during the regular season that he would be willing to take less money and wants to stay in Miami. The question is will Wade, whose game has decline a bit in recent years, be willing to spread out his money over more years to give the team even more flexibility to add more players.
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For example, Wade is due around $42 million over the next two years. If he opted out of his contract, he could then re-sign for four-years and $48 million or even five-years for $55 million. Either way, the contract would be fully guaranteed and he’d be set for what is likely his final contract and might make a little extra in the extra years.
The same holds true for Bosh who is due roughly the same amount of money over the next two years. He could also re-sign and structure the contract to give the team more flexibility up front to help surround the trio with a quality supporting cast.
The bottom line is if Wade and Bosh choose to opt-in to their current contracts, it’s likely that LeBron may take his talents elsewhere due to the salary cap restrictions it would cause to keep all three stars together and give them quality support.
But, if Wade, Bosh, and LeBron can come to another agreement and work together with Pat Riley to structure the contracts right; the Heat could be building a dynasty the NBA hasn’t seen in decades.
