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Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh joined LeBron James in the free agent market on Saturday by reportedly deciding to opt out of their contracts. It's a move that frees up approximately $55 million in cap space for the Heat to re-sign James, Bosh and Wade and still overhaul the roster to a degree. Earlier in the day it was reported Udonis Haslem also opted out of his deal and expects to sign a cheaper long-term contract to give the Heat a bit more breathing room under the salary cap.
Wade's decision, in particular, registers as a bit of a surprise. Wade missed 28 games during the regular season in the hope that he would be fresh for the end of the playoffs, but the 32-year-old looked old and slow in the Finals as the Heat were run off the floor by the Spurs. It's likely that Wade will have to take a bit of an annual paycut, but will still almost certainly get all of the guaranteed money he turned down, and probably more. It will simply be spread out over a longer period of time.
The other piece of free agency news is that LeBron wants max money to return to Miami. I'm not entirely sure I buy this, but he's certainly earned it.
Elsewhere:
- The Knicks are confident they can bring back Melo, and they want Pau Gasol, too.
- Nikola Mirotic sounds like he's done at Real Madrid. Blog-a-Bull will have an #exclusive report from someone in the know tomorrow.