At this point in the offseason, most NBA teams have their rosters pretty much set. Training camp is just around the corner, and the first preseason games start in almost exactly one month.
The Miami Heat have been signing players in the off-season left and right, one of them is not Dwyane Wade.
“Wade watch,” has officially entered week nine.
If you are breathing you are achieving, better yet, Wade is living his best life from what I have been watching.
Wade returning to the Heat seemed a formality when it began. However Wade was not available for exit interviews, I thought nothing of it.
These days in sunny Miami, the question is not will Wade return to the Heat, instead what is taking so long for a deal Wade and the Heat front office can agree on? It is getting more confusing by the second.
“We want him back,” Heat President Pat Riley said.
The delay has led to speculation about what is taking so long? Wade has expressed he will only play for the Heat. Wade added Riley and his agent Leon Rose “need to work some things out.”
The max the Heat can offer Wade is 5.3 million dollars, the mid-level exception. House change for a player of Wade’s caliber. Riley has not officially shared if the Heat would offer Wade the mid-level.
“This is not about negotiating a mid-level or dollars, “ Riley said. “It is about getting Dwyane back; we are giving him space.”
Miami needs Wade back. It would be shocking if the Heat let Wade walk away from their franchise to what amounts to roughly 3 million dollars in salary and 8 to 10 million dollar range in luxury tax.
If Wade wants to play, it has to get figured out sooner.
“We know what we have up front, we know our young guys,” Riley said. “We need to anchor our young team with a veteran presence.”
Though a free agent, it’s not like other teams have a shot at him. Still, it’s an engaging narrative to follow. Wade proved in the playoffs last season that he can still be helpful on the court, and besides that, he’s invaluable in the locker room.
Wade knows that in the meantime, he will be living his best life.
