Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade reportedly wants to sign a new contract this summer in free agency, something team president Pat Riley doesn't want. Riley hopes Wade will opt into his contract in June in order to give the team added financial flexibility to pursue Kevin Durant in 2016, according to Dan Le Batard of the Miami Herald.
Wade purportedly wants to leave his $16.1 million option for next season on the table and negotiate a new contract. Wade and Riley supposedly are so far apart on salary, however, that Wade is now open to testing the market and signing with another team. Miami wants to keep Wade, but it also wants cap room for the future. Cap room, according to Le Batard, to use in the Kevin Durant sweepstakes.
"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," Le Batard wrote Sunday. "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 are already strapped for cap space this summer, thanks to Goran Dragic's upcoming free agency and Luol Deng's player option, and won't have much if any room to bring in new players. It makes sense Riley would want Wade to opt in this summer so the team can have the aging superstar off the books for July 2016.
Le Batard added Miami could have enough room in 2016 for Wade, Durant, Dragic, Chris Bosh and Hassan Whiteside, but indicted Riley would not hesitate to part ways with Wade if the veteran demanded too high of a salary for his next contract. For 2016 to work, though, Wade would have to take another pay cut - something he reportedly isn't willing to do again, given that his next contract likely will be his last.
