Miami Starts Filling Holes Around LeBron And Co., Reels In Mike Miller

We reported last night after LeBron James made his big Cleveland-to-Miami announcement that a surprising trade of Michael Beasley to the Minnesota Timberwolves would clear salary cap space and help the Heat fill out its roster.

It appears a good chunk of that cap space will go to free agent swingman Mike Miller, whom, according to his brother, received an offer yesterday from the Miami Heat to team with his good friend James.

From the Argus Leader in South Dakota, Miller’s hometown paper:

The Mitchell native and NBA free agent received a contract offer from the Miami Heat to join James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in South Beach, his brother, Ryan Miller, confirmed Thursday.
“He wants to play with LeBron and have a chance to be part of something special,” said Ryan, an assistant coach at the University of New Mexico. “But there’s a business side of it, too. He might be leaving a lot of money on the table.”

Various reports earlier on Thursday had Miller getting an offer of five years, $30 million from the Heat, and late last night CSN-Washington reporter Chris Miller claimed that Miller accepted that offer. The Sun-Sentinel of South Florida also reported the deal as complete.

The Washington Wizards renounced their rights to Miller on Thursday.

With Miller aboard, followed eventually by the official signings of James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, the Heat will have just five players locked up for next season, including point guard Mario Chalmers. Miami also made a qualifying offer of $1 million to center Joel Anthony, which gives it the right to match any offer he might receive from another team. Anthony played in 80 games for the Heat last season, averaging 2.7 points and 3.1 rebounds. Chalmers started 104 games in two seasons with the Heat, including all 82 as a rookie in 2008-09.

Miami also controls the rights to three second round picks from last month’s NBA Draft: center Dexter Pittman, forward Jarvis Varnado and swingman De’Sean Butler.

The Heat’s deal with Minnesota apparently included a swap of future first round picks, according to the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, in addition to the Heat getting next year’s second round pick from the Timberwolves. Miami didn’t complete the deal until two hours after James’ announcement, but asked Beasley to prepare to be traded and scrap a workout at the Heat facility earlier on Thursday, according to ESPN.com.