Why The Miami Heat Shouldn’t Overpay Dwyane Wade

If you haven’t heard the news by now, word has gotten out that Miami Heat talisman Dwyane Wade and the team are having trouble coming to terms on a new contract that suits them both. This is somewhat surprising, as Wade has always meant so much to the team and really helped put it on the map when he was first drafted by them back in 2003.

In his time there he has contributed massively to three championship banners, and has been arguably one of the 10 best players in the league for the last decade. But they should not overpay to keep him around if they can avoid that scenario unfolding.

Look I get it, there’s going to be an element of sentiment here. The Heat loves Wade, and the feeling is (or at least was before these negotiations began) mutual. Even when LeBron James was in town, Wade was the fan’s true hero to most.

It would also be great if he could finish out his career there, as he’d be one of the great one-team guys in NBA history. But $20 million a year for three seasons for a guy who is 33 years old? Where is the long-term thinking in offering that kind of money to a guy who has had knee issues for the last couple of seasons?

Last year he played in 62 games, the year before that it was 54. This guy isn’t a superstar anymore, but that’s acceptable. He’s got some serious mileage on his body, and nobody goes on playing at a high level forever. Is he still able to meaningfully contribute? Of course, and more than that he’s absolutely a starter as well. But big bucks for a guy who won’t produce the kind of performances consistently that warrant that kind of contract? Not for me.

Coming at it from another angle, consider this. The NBA is now a three-point shooting wonderland, the more threats from deep you have, the better. The Golden State Warriors currently encapsulate this best, but every team wants to get in on that action. It’s a large part of why guys like James Jones and Mike Miller are about to play in an NBA Finals.

Last season, Wade shot 28 percent from behind the arc (his best shooting season from there was 31 percent back in 2009). Are you telling me that in 2015, you’re going to pay a guy with bad knees $20 million a season to sit out roughly a third of your regular season schedule, not defend like he used to (again acceptable given all he’s given on the court) and also not even be an average three-point shooter? Is that really good value for money? At best, he’s certainly getting no better as time goes on.

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It’s been argued that Wade has always been undercut by the Heat, that he left money on the table on multiple occasions both so that LeBron James and Chris Bosh could join the team in 2010, and also so Udonis Haslem could be brought back into the fold at one point as well. So now that his time is up once more to get paid some feel he’s entitled to be rewarded for those times he took a cut financially for the betterment of the team.

My answer to that? So what, Wade knew what he was doing then and he was rewarded well. He won multiple championships and reached the finals on two more occasions and lost. It’s also not like he was decimated financially as a result of sharing the wage bill with other stars. If you’re asking Derrick Rose or Kevin Durant to take financial hits to win rings, I’m guessing they’d do the same thing.

Kobe Bryant‘s two-year, $48.5 million deal he inked before last season complicates matters a little here. Wade can point to the fact that Bryant received a huge slice of the financial pie, despite the fact his powers were clearly on the decline. His injury record was far worse than Wade’s as well. So I can understand why he’d feel aggrieved at being lowballed again looking at things from that perspective.

As you can probably imagine, my stance on Bryant is much the same, that contract was a joke to give to him. Yes you’re rewarding him and saying thank you for past glories. But since signing that contract, the Lakers have gone through their worst stretch ever. That’s not all on him, but having more money to entice guys of a better standard than Nick Young and the amnestied Carlos Boozer sure would have been nice too.

If Wade could also look at the bigger picture, hopefully he’d see that once again taking less money is the only way he stays relevant if he chooses to spend the rest of his career in Miami. In Bosh, Goran Dragic and the overnight sensation that was Hassan Whiteside, the nucleus of a top four team in the Eastern Conference is surely there. Add Wade to that mix, as well as the right role players, and they’re right back in the conversation of the best teams in that conference.

I’m sure there are those who will say I’m hating or picking on Wade, but that is absolutely not the case. If anything I’d rather see him stay in Miami for less money and have a better shot at winning big one more time. When we look back at this era of the NBA that began with that highly touted draft class of ’03, Wade’s imprints will be all over the pages of that part of basketball history. This isn’t about him so much as it is about why players past their best feel they are entitled to money their contributions no longer deserve.

So while Heat fans may see it as unthinkable for Dwyane Wade to potentially suit up for another team, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.  The crafty operator that President Pat Riley is, he would no doubt turn the money Wade wants into something more beneficial for the team in the long-term. Do the right thing Dywane, don’t be selfish at a time when once again taking less money now could result in one final shot at glory.

Next: Where Is Wade Among The 30 Best Shooting Guards of All-Time?

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