With all of the precursor moves more or less official, the Big Three are planning their next step.
On Saturday, Dwyane Wade followed the lead of LeBron James by exercising the early termination option on his contract, making him an unrestricted free agent. Chris Bosh notified the Heat on Sunday that he will do the same, the team saying they "look forward to meeting with Chris and his agent in the coming days to discuss keeping him in Miami for many years to come.” Udonis Haslem also helped the cause by declining his player option, freeing up additional flexibility for the Miami Heat.
While the end result is not a certainty, context clues are pointing to James, Bosh and Wade at least trying to find a way to stick together. That includes finding the best way to make the salary numbers work, an important consideration given James' desire to receive a salary more commensurate with his value this time around, and his reported desire for the team to bring in more help to remain competitive.
The Heatles are currently discussing these financial matters, according to a report from ESPN.
From the report:
After agreeing to all opt out of their contracts together, Miami Heat stars LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade have been discussing financial terms of new contracts amongst each other, sources told ESPN.com.
...
The talks between the three players is the strongest indication yet that James plans to re-sign with the Heat after he becomes a free agent on Tuesday.
While the Heat don't technically have the cap room until the players sign or have their rights renounced, their lack of players (they have only Norris Cole and first-round pick Shabazz Napier on the books as real cap hits) means they have what amounts to roughly $55 million in effective cap space (perhaps better worded as "usable salary").
That means the Heat have about $55 million with which to sign their big three and any additional support before relying on salary cap exceptions to fill out the roster. If the three combine to make $55 million, for example, they'd be left with just the $5.31 million mid-level exception and the $2.08 million bi-annual exception, plus minimum roster exceptions to add players to whom they don't already hold Bird rights (Haslem, Mario Chalmers, and a host of other free agents).
For Heat fans, all that really matters right now is that they're discussing sticking together. Everything else is just details.
