Dwyane Wade joining the Cavs for less money and out of spite could happen
Miami has made things ugly enough with Wade in negotiations to force his hand
By
Zach Harper
•
2 min read
Will we actually see Dwyane Wade donning a Cavs uniform next season?
It could happen.
The idea of Wade spurning the Heat and taking a huge discount to go reunite with LeBron James in Cleveland is gaining steam. Wade, who reportedly has been displeased with Miami's offers, is seeking upwards of $25 million a year and would like to get a three-year deal in the process. The Heat probably don't feel great about that kind of monetary commitment when they're still trying to find a way back to being a title contender.
As Ethan Skolnick of the Miami Herald writes, Wade in Cleveland is an actual option. It requires Wade going from asking $25 million a year to passing on $20 million a year offered by the Heat to accepting the taxpayer mid-level exception for just under $3.5 million. That is sacrificing a lot of money in the name of feeling disrespected, but Wade and LeBron are still extremely close and would like to play on the same team again some day if it makes sense. So does that make sense now?
And yes, joining LeBron James in Cleveland is an option. Among a few still, and "a long shot" due to the economics, according to a source, but definitely an option. The Cavaliers don't currently have anything other than the taxpayer midlevel to offer ($3.48 million), which would be a huge reduction in pay. So they would need to make multiple deals to accommodate more salary. Or James would need to take a historically large cut, which wouldn't sit well with the players' union, but maybe he doesn't care about that. He repeatedly told me, when I was covering the Cavaliers during the 2014-15 season, how much he missed Wade. That might be priceless.
This does seem like a long shot but that doesn't mean it won't happen. Wade has been passive aggressively tweeting about relationships being important and there are enough leaks throughout this story to feel pretty confident that the Heat may have gone too far initially with how little they offered him. It's the tough balance of keeping the franchise icon in your heart and still trying to maintain a competitive balance that means more than a playoff appearance. Pat Riley has tried to do that for multiple offseasons and the deeper we get, the more upset Wade seems to be.
Wade wants to still be treated as the organization's most important figure on the court, and that hasn't been the case during tenuous negotiations for two straight summers. Last year, there was a mild flirtation with the Cavs before settling on a one-year, $20 million deal. This year, the Cavs are following the Wade family on social media and there seems to be a building paranoia that Wade could bolt.
From a money standpoint, the Nuggets still make more sense and the Bulls could make some things work to open up the money he's seeking. From a revenge standpoint, the Cavs would be Wade throwing up two middle fingers to Riley as he walks away from his NBA family. No matter the outcome, this has been pretty good theater.
