There is absolutely no way Wade would do something like that. His knees are in such bad shape that there's no guarantee he doesn't get a career ending injury, or, even more likely, there's no way he can have a guarantee from the Heat to get a max deal after the 1 year deal is up. I know you have this fantasy where the Heat will have a wink wink deal to give him the max again if he takes the 1 year minimum, but that isn't happening. 1) Wade would be betting on his health 2) Wade would be betting on the team to honor a wink/wink deal that he wouldn't earn 3) They'd both be betting on the league not slapping them so hard across the face that the team is a dead franchise for five years
If miami gives him anything close to the max they are morons just like L.A giving Kobe big money at this point of his career they are old and injuries will continue to happen
that's pretty much textbook circumvention, the league would allow the minimum deal but would let them know that a subsequent deal would get squashed. The purpose of bird rights isn't to manipulate the salary cap.
Wade will either (1) opt out and extend, (2) opt out and leave or (3) opt in and be a millstone around the neck of the Heat. If you believe (2) or (3) are "viable scenarios", feel free to be wrong. Both Riles and Wade want him to retire in Miami and Wade doesn't want to play out the string for 2 seasons and kill the franchise. He will opt out and they will guarantee him for 3-4 years (probably 4) at a salary much lower than $21MM/year. If he ends up actually playing all 4 years, fine. I doubt it very much. The Heat know they have a small window to win a couple more championships before the wheels fall off. Mortgaging the future is a no-brainer and there is nothing stupid about it. I never said buying Wade out would clear him off the cap. If that were true, there would be buyouts galore every summer in the NBA. All of this hinges on LeBron staying in Miami. If he leaves, Wade will probably opt in, collect his Kobe-money overs 2 years and the Heat can try to rebuild after his dead weight is gone.
I think A3PO is right, Wade wants to retire a Heat, he's not chasing greatness so what would be the point of going to another franchise and ring chasing, I think Riles can easily convince him to sign 4 years for the 2 year max and allow Miami to still be competitive. If Wade has to retire due to medical reasons, I think he will still get the full value of his contract but it would be wiped off the books (not 100% about this though) so maybe there isn't any downside to this arrangement. TBH I think LBJ stays in Miami and replaces Bosh with Melo, then Riles can arrange a sign and trade like say Asik+filler and get their defensive center as well as a secondary star to help LBJ win a ring. If Morey strikes out on LBJ,Melo and Love then a Bosh trade wouldn't be a bad consolation prize.
That is assuming that retiring a Heat is worth $20M to Wade... He could opt in for 2 years at $42M, then sign another 2 years $20M somewhere else before he retires at age 36. If he restructures for 4 years $42M he'd be essentially sacrificing $20M plus and trusting that two things happens 1) Lebron wants to stay 2) Pat Riley can bring in quality talent.
He will re-sign for more than $42MM. Maybe 4 yrs/$55-60MM. That would be huge cap relief and be enough peanut butter on top for Wade not to be insulted. LeBron must stay of course.
DWade is still an elite scorer in the league, but he's not the defender he used to be. But there's a ton of players getting paid max that can't play defense.
Under this scenario both Lebron and Bosh have to sign one-year deals for around $10 million to get far enough under the cap for Miami to really build out the team with a legit center and PG. Because Lebron and Bosh simply aren't going to sign long-term deals for that low a salary. Wade is the weak link. It's going to be on Wade to make this happen. I say it's most likely Wade that take a one-year deal or perhaps all 3 guys take one year deals to add some serious mustard to the team. They then come back and sign 5 year deals (Lebron and Bosh) and a 3-year deal for Wade after next season. Because Lebron and Bosh aren't going to sign long term 5 year deals starting at $12-14 million. Either this or Wade simply takes the minimum for one year...Lebron and Bosh re-up for 5 years, Miami adds a couple guys (like Pau and Lowry) and the after next year plays out, Miami re-ups Wade for 3 years. Either of these scenarios is more likely than Wade signing this year for 4/60 or whatever.
I don't know why you are stuck on Wade signing a one-year minimum deal. No offense, but that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. LeBron and Bosh aren't signing one-year deals either. My guess is LeBron signs long term with an opt out after 2 or 3. This puts him in total control of his future. Same for Bosh if the Heat want to keep him.
So even if they get Wade to opt out and sign a new deal for 4 yrs 55M, that would only create ~8M of cap space. How much can they really improve with that much space? The rest of their roster is total garbage at the moment.
About the 4 year, $55M or whatever scenario: If you are Lebron, wouldn't having a likely deteriorated Wade on the roster for nearly $30M in years 3 and 4 of the contract be a significant negative? If Arison is really going to operate on a budget, doesn't this limit what the team can do in the upcoming years even if they manage to add some talent this summer? The Spurs did something similar with Richard Jefferson and it didn't exactly work out for them. Ended up giving up a 1st rounder to trade him for Stephen Jackson's shorter contract. The other question is who they would add. The savings isn't quite enough to land Melo without other creative maneuvers and discounts-- which Lebron and Bosh may not be as willing to take given that they are playing better than Wade and are in greater demand in the market. Maybe a Kyle Lowry type?
There is no question, any way they set it up, Wade is an albatross. You can bet Lebron opts out, and when he signs his new deal, he will have the option to opt out in 2015 if the Heat fail.
The answer is a one year contract or one year contracts for all 3 guys. Taking a one year contract is the same thing as the player choosing not to opt out but to take a paycut for one season to help the team.
If you don't believe they will sign one-year deals then you don't believe that they will possibly not exercise their opt outs either. Because not exercising their opt out is essentially playing on a one-year deal. The reason I am bringing it up and will continue to bring it up is because the one-year contract is the ONLY LOGICAL SOLUTION to keeping the Big 3 together while: 1. Adding significant talent around them 2. Costing the big 3 the least amount of money long-term Here's the beauty of all 3 guys playing on one-year deals. 1. They can hold Riley partially accountable (not necessary because he's a man of his word) to re-up Wade and give him all the money due him and more. Because they'll all be free agents again next summer and can bolt. 2. If all 3 guys give up $8-10 million next year, that's all they have to give up over the next 5 seasons in Lebron's and Bosh's cases and 3 seasons in Wade's case and some of that can be made up by signing new max deals after next season when their max salaries will most likely be a step above what they would have been this season. In Bosh's case, he is 30. Because the over-36 rule has to be accounted for in contracts that extend past age 36, Bosh has essentially 6 more seasons that he can play on a max deal without being penalized any money. Lebron has 7 seasons. Wade has 4 seasons left. All the guys playing on one-year deals basically puts Lebron as the gatekeeper. Riley has to re-up the other guys to re-up Lebron. On the flip side all these guys signing for $14 million starting salary on 4 or 5 year deals....will cost them a massive amount of money with no guarantee of rings. They won't do that. So either they break up or they sign one-year deals. Watch it happen. Impossible. An Early Termination option can only occur in the last year of 5-year contracts in the new CBA. If Miami doesn't add significant talent to the big 3 then they will just be another really good team. They have to add significant pieces to this team. The only logical way to put the big 3 in a position to be competitive for a ring next season is Miami has to bring in at least 2 key pieces...a center and a PG.
