Chris Broussard from ESPN is reporting that the Houston Rockets have offered Chris Bosh a maximum contract and have become a serious threat to take the nine-time All-Star away from South Beach.
Sources: Rockets offer Bosh max deal of 4 yrs, $96 million. After weekend convo with LeBron and low offer from Heat, Bosh considering offer
— Chris Broussard (@Chris_Broussard) July 7, 2014
He might be hesitant to break up the Big 3, but he shouldn't be.
Bosh was always the third banana behind LeBron and Wade (even though the last two years he was better than Wade), and didn't get anywhere near the amount of credit he deserved for the Heat's success. He changed his game for Miami, going from a versatile star big man to a supplemental stretch four, in order to give the other two stars room to operate in the lane.
He was the one who was asked to sacrifice the most, and he did so in order to chase championships.
Now, he's being asked to sacrifice even more - and he should take it as a huge slap to the face.
The Big 3 all opted-out of their contracts and were expected to take less to attract more free agents to bolster their roster. Dwyane Wade is prepared to do so, as he's in the moonlight of his career that he's spent the entirety of in Miami.
But with reports coming out that LeBron wants a max deal - which he absolutely deserves - Bosh would have to settle for considerably less money than what he's worth, and Miami offered him as much.
The pastures are not only greener in Houston in terms of the amount of money they can offer him, but they might be better suited for a championship run than the Heat are.
Bosh would immediately become part of the best post tandem in the league with Dwight Howard, and pairing him with James Harden and Chandler Parsons (if they can make the Parsons situation work out, which is another issue entirely) would form perhaps the most dangerous lineup in the league.
The Rockets would have to trade Jeremy Lin and his $15 million salary to make that work, but the Philadelphia 76ers have expressed interest in absorbing that expiring contract to meet the NBA's salary floor.
So, the Rockets would become instant title favorites and Bosh would get paid while playing for another ring. What does it mean for Miami?
It gives the Heat more cap room (which they wanted) to pursue another superstar and improve their supporting cast.
That superstar would almost certainly be Carmelo Anthony, who has to seriously consider playing with his buddy LeBron now that it's a real possibility Miami can pay him what he wants.
If that happens, the Heat would still have three of the top 15 or 20 players in the world and rely on role players taking much less, even the league minimum, to compete for a championship.
However, that formula didn't work as well against any of the teams at the top of the Western Conference last year, and those teams are only getting stronger.
Another option for Miami would be to use their abundance of cap room to sign a couple of above average free agents - a la some combination of Luol Deng, Trevor Ariza, Pau Gasol, Greg Monroe, and Jordan Hill - to form a solid, deep overall roster.
I think the latter would be best for the Heat in their pursuit of a championship, but it's hard to pass on a LeBron-Melo-Wade pairing. Either way, Miami would still be in the hunt for title.
Do you think Chris Bosh should stay or leave? What would it mean for Houston and Miami? Tweet your thoughts and responses to @brauf33.
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