Dwyane Wade has a big offseason ahead of him. The Miami guard is a free agent, and there are rumors swirling that he may be on his way out of the city where he’s spent his entire professional career. Those rumors edge closer to reality after purported interest from both the Lakers and the Clippers.
Wade is supposedly looking for a deal that will pay him $16 million annually over the next three seasons. Let’s see how that’s going for him:
League execs telling me there is not a robust market for DWade because of his age (33) and injury problems.
— Chris Broussard (@Chris_Broussard) June 30, 2015
Sure, when he’s healthy and on the court, Wade is still on the short list for the best basketball players on Earth. But he missed 20 games this past season, averaged a career-low 31.8 minutes per game, and put up the second-lowest true shooting percentage of his career. Wade also had a career-low in rebounds and steals per game, while averaging the second-fewest assists per game while in the NBA. Then again, he also had the second-best player efficiency rating among shooting guards (No. 20 overall), trailing only MVP runner-up James Harden. He’s still one of the best two-guards in the game.
Still, it’s really hard to justify paying someone showing serious signs of decline $16 million a year for three years. Wade will be 36 and nearing retirement at the end of that deal. There’s certainly a chance that some team pulls the trigger and brings in Wade for that amount, but it looks like the market for Wade will be pretty sparse until he lowers his asking price.
[via Chris Broussard]
