NBA Rumors: Miami Heat Plan on Going after Kevin Durant

By Cheri Cheng - 02 Jun '15 15:43PM

The Miami Heat reportedly have a plan to go after Kevin Durant. According to Dan Le Batard with the Miami Herald, Heat president Pat Riley, who has put championship teams together in the past, will try to get Durant to come to Miami.

In order to even have a shot at Durant, however, the Heat will need Dwyane Wade to opt in for next year. Le Batard wrote:

"The Heat seems to want Wade to opt into his contract for next season at $16 million, then become a free agent and leave their and his future blank-check open. This will give the Heat the flexibility it craves to make a run at a player like Kevin Durant.

Pipe dream? Maybe.

But that's what Wade himself once told the Heat about his great friend LeBron James being in Miami. Miami wants to have the flexibility that gets Riley in a room with Durant.

The Heat can have room for Wade, Bosh, Goran Dragic, Hassan Whiteside and Durant ... but only if Wade opts in for this year and gives them that flexibility by being a free agent in 2016. This requires Wade to have a lot of trust, obviously, and the leap of faith that the team will take care of him in 2016."

Wade has been with the Heat since he was drafted by the organization in 2003. He has led the Heat to three championship titles, two with LeBron James and Chris Bosh. If he opts in this year, the Heat can afford to offer massive contracts to key players when the NBA salary cap increases.

Josh Baumgard with WQAM explained via CBS Miami:

"The NBA salary cap is going to proliferate after next season with the league's massive new TV deal. Some estimates peg a $22 million increase to $89 million in 2016-17 and $108 million in 2017-18. That's a whopping 61-percent increase over a two-year span. They can theoretically give monster deals to Dragic this summer and Whiteside the next while still being able to afford another star but only if Wade continues to play the rare game of sacrifice."

Wade is set to make $16.1 million next season. Durant, the 2013-14 MVP, will become a free agent after the 2015-16 season.