Miami cheap?

When you think of the Miami Heat you can't help but think of Dwayne Wade and Pat Riley. When Riley became the general manager he helped turn the Heat into a championship team with his trade for Shaquille O'neal and also a place free agents wanted to come to. His biggest and best move to date (with the help of Wade) landed Lebron James in 2010.
 However even while Lebron was a member of the Heat, and the best player in the NBA the 4 years he was there Miami was always considered Wade county. Wade has always been the team first guy. So much so last summer he agreed to opt out of his contract which was for two years and $42 million and resigned for 2 years $31 million with a player option after the 2015 season. All of this was basically his way of helpng the Heat keep Lebron James and also add better players to the roster to keep them at the championship level. It was also understood the organization would take care of Wade with a longer deal to help make up for the money he gave back.
The problem is of course Lebron decided to go back to Cleveland and now Wade has the option to opt out of his deal and and seek a new contract and try to get some of that money back. Now it seems the Heat aren't so willing to pay Wade what he is asking for. Wade wants a 3 year deal for $50 million. Now some would say paying a 33 year old shooting guard who is often injured that much money over the next 3 years is not a good idea. But the fact remains Wade not once but twice helped management by taking less money than what he was worth to help the team. Now that he is near the end of his career and wants to be paid maybe more than he is worth, the Heat need to step up and do the right thing.
The main reason Miami is hesitant about paying that much out over the next 3 years is because they want to have money available next summer to attract Kevin Durant who will be a free agent. The issue the Heat will have in my opinion is if they don't treat Wade like the franchise player and team guy he has been he may decide to leave and play the last few years of his career in another city. If that happens it can certainly turn other potential free agents, Durant included away from the possiblity of going to Miami.
Ultimately I think Riley and Wade find a way to figure this out and allows Wade to finish his career in Miami like he should. But this could get very interesting before its all said and done.

By: Ken Clayton