Report: Heat Want Flexibility to Pursue Kevin Durant in 2016
If you lose the planet's most skilled basketball player, why not just go on down the superstar ladder?
One of the primary reasons the Miami Heat prefer Dwyane Wade to opt in to his $16.1 million contract next season is for the purpose of maintaining the salary-cap flexibility to pursue an A-list free agent like Kevin Durant in the summer of 2016.
There appears to be a strong possibility Pat Riley and the Heat are thinking along similar lines in regards to 2016 NBA Free Agency as they did in 2010, via the Miami Herald:
The Heat seems to want Wade to opt into his contract for next season at $16 million, then become a free agent and leave their and his future blank-check open. This will give the Heat the flexibility it craves to make a run at a player like Kevin Durant.
Pipe dream? Maybe.
But that's what Wade himself once told the Heat about his great friend LeBron James being in Miami. Miami wants to have the flexibility that gets Riley in a room with Durant.
The Heat can have room for Wade, Bosh, Goran Dragic, Hassan Whiteside and Durant … but only if Wade opts in for this year and gives them that flexibility by being a free agent in 2016. This requires Wade to have a lot of trust, obviously, and the leap of faith that the team will take care of him in 2016.
While some may not think a core of Dragic-Wade-Bosh-Whiteside can win the whole thing (though that sure looks like a contending core to me), adding one of the best two or three players in Durant (when healthy) wouldn't just make the Heat a contender but an overwhelming favorite regardless of what the rest of the league proffers.
How can they afford it? The NBA salary cap is going to proliferate after next season with the league's massive new TV deal. Some estimates peg a $22 million increase to $89 million in 2016-17 and $108 million in 2017-18. That's a whopping 61-percent increase over a two-year span. They can theoretically give monster deals to Dragic this summer and Whiteside the next while still being able to afford another star but only if Wade continues to play the rare game of sacrifice.
Durant was the league's MVP in the 2013-14 season, also leading the NBA in Win Shares. He played in just 27 games last year because of a foot injury. When healthy, he's one of the most feared scorers on the hardwood, possessing a killer jumper with range -- from the three-point line to the hot dog stand.
The hometown Wizards are believed to be the early favorite if Durant opts to leave the Thunder, but as Heat fans know, Riley is a man with vivid dreams.
First comes the challenge of getting Wade to "buy" in financially as his career winds down.. Next comes Pat Riley, The Closer.
Follow Josh on Twitter (@JoshBaumgard)
