Trio have three options with most likely one aimed at allowing Heat to recruit role players.
Miami Heat stars LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh have reportedly been discussing the financial terms of their new contracts with each other.
After agent Henry Thomas revealed on Sunday that Bosh would be following suit and opting out of his contract along with James and Wade, there has been much discussion over what the trio will decide on.
The deadline for players to declare free agency is midnight Monday, and while the Heat front office will want to bring their stars in as soon as possible to discuss their future, it is reported they have sat down to talk over their options together first.
While the fact that they are even discussing the situation suggests that they all plan to re-sign with Miami, but it is understood at this early stage that James will likely take the highest salary among the three as reported by ESPN, with the Heat having a record $55m in available cap space.
James, Wade and Bosh appear to have three options on how to put together deals that could affect how aggressive the franchise is in recruiting in the free agency market.
Firstly, all three could re-sign and take raises to the maximum salary starting at $22m each, but that would carry the Heat into the luxury tax and significantly limit their spending options this year and the following campaign.
Secondly, they could all take significant pay cuts which would leave the Heat below the salary cap and leave enough room to chase a high-profile free agent, with Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry amongst the names being linked.
Nevertheless, the third option appears to be the most realistic, and it involves the Heat stars all taking moderate pay cuts and staggering their salaries at different levels. This would not leave significant cap space but it would keep the Heat below the luxury tax line and enable them to add multiple role players.
Following their defeat to the San Antonio Spurs, one of the main criticisms of the former champions was that they didn’t have the same strength in depth to support their Big Three, and that is arguably where the franchise will look to improve, provided that their star trio return first.
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