The Miami Heat remain at an impasse with contract negotiations surrounding star Dwyane Wade. The Miami Herald's Ethan Skolnick reports that the two sides aren't on great terms and the situation is "ugly."
Dwyane Wade’s contract negotiations with the Heat aren’t going so well
The two sides reportedly are still at an impasse, which puts Wade’s future in Miami in doubt. Could a familiar friend come calling?
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The Heat currently have a two-year, $40 million offer on the table, which is the same deal the Dallas Mavericks just agreed to with Dirk Nowitzki. ESPN's Brian Windhorst reports that Wade is seeking a two-year, $50 million deal, but Skolnick and The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski report Wade simply wants a third year on his contract more than anything.
Wade reportedly wasn't happy with the initial low-ball offer he received at the outset of free agency. Miami also prioritized Hassan Whiteside and Kevin Durant in free agency, further irking Wade, who has taken pay cuts in the past to help facilitate some Heat free-agent signings.
With Wade possibly looking elsewhere, the Milwaukee Bucks, Denver Nuggets, Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks and Mavericks all reportedly showed interest over the last week. He even set up a meeting with the Bucks to discuss a potential return to where he played his college ball at Marquette, but that meeting has now been canceled. However, Wojnarowski and Windhorst report the Bulls and Nuggets are still in pursuit.
Adding to the intrigue are the rumblings of a possible reunion with LeBron James in Cleveland. Twitter went crazy Monday night with rumors that Wade was on a plane to Cleveland with James and Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert. But as Skolnick reports, that couldn't have been Wade's plane because he was still in Europe and is only flying back to the U.S. on Tuesday morning.
The Wade-to-Cleveland scenario is further complicated by the fact that the Cavaliers can only offer the mini mid-level exception worth $3.48 million in the first season. The Cavaliers could theoretically dump a bunch of salary and/or LeBron James could take a massive pay cut on his next deal in order to make more room for his pal, but these are all longshot possibilities at the moment. That’s why Cleveland is a very remote possibility at this point.
The likely outcome here still is Wade returning to the Heat, but this appears to be a more tenuous situation than last summer when there was a contract standoff. If he sticks to his contract demands, Miami will likely have to create more cap space to fit him in. Will the Heat actually do that, or will they risk losing their franchise icon?
Time will tell.
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