The notion that Dwyane Wade could actually leave the Miami Heat still feels a little far-fetched, but every day it becomes more real. Since before free agency started, word has gotten out of Wade’s dissatisfaction with his offers from the Heat, and he’s made it known that he’s open to other offers. Now, he has at least one from the Denver Nuggets, according to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein:
The Nuggets' two-year offer to Dwayne Wade is north of $50 million, according to league sources, with Denver still hopeful Wade accepts it.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 6, 2016
The Heat were more than $10 million short of Denver's offer at last report but most league observers still expect D-Wade to wind up in Miami
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 6, 2016
What has annoyed Wade, even more than the below-market offers, was the Heat’s prioritization of Hassan Whiteside over him. Now that they didn’t get Kevin Durant, they have no one else to sign, but they still don’t have quite enough cap space to match Denver’s offer without making another move, such as unloading Josh McRoberts’ contract.
Wade has every right to test the market, especially after the years of hometown discounts he’s given the Heat since the start of the Big Three era. But something still feels off about the idea of him in a Denver Nuggets jersey, a franchise and city he has no connection with. Some of the other teams that have been reportedly been pursuing him at least make sense — he’s from Chicago, he went to college at Marquette in Milwaukee and he could team back up with LeBron James in Cleveland — but Denver just seems strange.
Ultimately, all of this will probably be moot and he’ll end up back in Miami at a higher offer. But it’s fun theater until then.
UPDATE:
It looks like Wade will be meeting with the Nuggets on Wednesday in New York. It just got pretty real Heat fans.
Sources: Free agent guard Dwyane Wade meeting with Denver Nuggets officials on Wednesday in New York. Story soon on @TheVertical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 6, 2016
