The Miami Heat's top free agent target this offseason is Kevin Durant. That's the case for many teams this offseason, and the addition of Durant would immediately make Miami one of the favorites for the 2017 NBA title. But how can the Heat afford to sign Durant this offseason?
The Heat currently don't have any cap space, once cap holds for free agents and restricted free agents are factored in. Including the cap holds for players like Luol Deng, the Heat are actually roughly $10 million over salary cap for this season. That means the Heat will need to make more cap space to fit Durant's $25 million max deal in their salary cap. Remember, the Heat can't go over the salary cap to add Durant.
Renounce The Cap Holds Of Luol Deng, Udonis Haslem, Amare Stoudemire, Gerald Green, Joe Johnson And Dorell Wright
The Heat have a lot of free agents this offseason. In order for Durant to take his talents to South Beach, all of the above players would likely have to leave (unless they took the veteran minimum later). Deng's cap hold counts $13 million against the cap, and Haslem is just under $5.5 million. The rest of the players are under $1 million. In total, these moves save the Heat $22.5 million in cap space.
Get Wade To Sign A One-Year, $8 Million Deal
This one will be tricky, as Wade's recent threats to meet with the Mavs and Spurs could be an indication that he wants his money now. Wade would still have Bird rights, meaning he'd be able to get back most of the money he's giving up this year. He currently has a massive $30 million cap hold, which is hurting the team's cap space. Doing this move saves the team $22 million. If the Heat don't go wit the option below, since it's not necessary, they could offer Wade more money.
Sign Whiteside To a $10 Million Deal And Use Stretch Provision on Josh McRoberts
With the previous two moves, the Heat already have the cap space to add Durant. However, it means they'd miss out on keeping Whiteside. A one-year, $10 million deal would be enough to keep Whiteside's Bird Rights and give him a max deal next year. However, this seems unlikely given that Whiteside has said he wants a max deal. Giving him a $10 million deal would put the Heat just shy of the $25 million for Durant, but dumping McRoberts' nearly $6 million contract via the stretch provision would clear enough space.
As an added bonus, the Heat still have early bird rights to Tyler Johnson and the mid-level exception worth $2.9 million. They can add players at the veteran minimum to fill out the rest of the roster. A potential move is if Miami decides Chris Bosh has a career-ending injury. They could stretch the rest of his deal out over the seven year of his deal and take a $10 million cap hit this year. That's a big drop from his nearly $24 million cap figure this year and the Heat can ask the league to remove the rest of the salary off future caps. In the end, expect the Heat to pitch Durant on the first two moves and pairing him with Wade and Bosh.
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