Dwyane Wade, Los Angeles Lakers Showing Mutual Interest?

Dwyane Wade is reportedly interested in the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers are reportedly interested in Dwyane Wade.

It isn’t crazy to think the Lakers would fork out the cash for another star player, but it won’t be surprising to see the Miami Heat star stay at the beach for the rest of his playing days.

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There are a lot of factors at play with Wade’s future, but for the sake of argument, we’re going to assume that this isn’t all a well planned out bit of theatre to force the Miami Heat to pay the face of their franchise.

So how well would Wade and Kobe Bryant fit together offensively on a Los Angeles Lakers team in 2015-16? The idea certainly sounds good, but there are at least two issues with it that might give pause.

While Kobe Bryant can certainly shoot three-pointers, the best way to describe it is he’s “active but not accurate” as Kirk Goldsbury put it a few years ago. Kobe thrives from just inside the arc and it particular the right elbow. Wade prefers the left side a bit more, but Wade’s never been a great three-point shooter either.

The two of them are going to want to shoot a lot from inside three-point range and that might end up with defenses keeping tightly packed together and staying in a comfort zone against the two of them.

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It looks like it may get crowded, but the two are both Hall of Fame level players so I imagine they can find a way to exist together. But outside the two of them it could be an issue on a team that didn’t shoot a lot of three-pointers. The Lakers were ranked 25th in attempts last season and this suits Lakers coach Bryon Scott just fine as he said last year, “I don’t believe it wins championships. (It) gets you to the playoffs.”

Along with Nick Young, that’s three players that favor shots from near the top of the key or from midrange. The Lakers seemed determined to build a team like Phil Jackson is doing in New York, or at least a team that isn’t playing in an NBA where the three-point shot is one of the biggest weapon. The Lakers might be able to find a way to make it run smoothly, but it would be asking one of the two stars to make an adjustment to their game.

But beyond finding a way to make it work, there is one thing I don’t think the Lakers, Wade, and Kobe can plan on beating: Father Time’s battle against their own bodies.

Over the past two years we’ve only seen Kobe play in 41 games after his ACL gave out on him right before the playoffs in 2013. After practically missing the entire 2013-14 season, last season we saw him for 35 games before he tore his rotator cuff. This will be Kobe’s 20th season coming up and it seems like a long shot that he won’t deal with another injury. Maybe not a season-ending one like the past two years, but I don’t think you can bet on Kobe’s health anymore.

Dwyane Wade’s health hasn’t been that great the past few seasons either. Out of the 164 regular season games the past two season Wade has played in 116 — not nearly as many missed games as Kobe, but still a concern. Two years ago the Heat tried resting him as much as possible and he still ended up looking very worn down by the end of Miami’s playoff run. In Miami or in Los Angeles, any sort of multi-year deal is betting on his ability to stay effective on the court for the next few seasons and avoid looking old and busted.

Of course this is all assuming Wade is serious about the possibility of leaving Miami.

Like Kobe, Wade is looking for a final cash-in from the only team he’s ever played for. He took a pay cut to make the Big Three happen in Miami, so he expects the franchise to reward him for the team’s two most recent championship seasons. That’s fair, but maybe Pat Riley and the Miami Heat organization were listening to U.S. Men’s soccer coach Jurgen Klinsmann last summer in an interview with the New York Times:

"“This always happens in America,” Klinsmann told me, waving his hands in the air. “Kobe Bryant, for example — why does he get a two-year contract extension for $50 million? Because of what he is going to do in the next two years for the Lakers? Of course not. Of course not. He gets it because of what he has done before. It makes no sense. Why do you pay for what has already happened?”"

Kobe, of course, thought this was comical, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t true either. The Lakers have put a lot of money into Kobe and there is little reason to expect him to live up to his contract. That’s perfectly fine on Kobe’s end, but the deal probably wasn’t in the organization’s best interest.

Wade is hoping his organization gives him that final money-laden ‘thank you’ as well. Miami wants to avoid a situation like the Lakers are dealing with in Los Angeles where their highest paid player is wearing a suit more often than not.

With Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside looking to be part of Miami’s future, it seems like if Wade wants to win, his best interest is staying in Miami. If he’s looking for a pay day, then the Lakers have money to burn.

We’ll know soon enough if all this was saber rattling or the end of an era in Miami.

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