In a shocking twist to an already frenzied day of free agency, Chris Bosh re-signed with the Miami Heat.
Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski was first to report the news.
Chris Bosh is finalizing an agreement to return to Miami on a five-year, $118M deal, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 11, 2014
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After LeBron James decided to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers earlier today, it was broadly assumed that Bosh would accept a maximum contract offer from the Houston Rockets. Since it became evident that LeBron re-signing with the Heat was tenuous last week, all reports said that Bosh would be Houston bound if James ultimately left South Beach. And as the league’s unofficial free agency moratorium finally ended this morning with James’ decision, the Rockets were reportedly confident of their chances to get Bosh.
But Pat Riley and company acted quickly to secure his services, offering Bosh a five-year, $118 million contract that no team on the open market could match. And though rumors surfaced earlier today that the Chicago Bulls were trying to lure Dwyane Wade back to his hometown, it now seems inevitable that two-thirds of the Heat’s old Big Three will remain in Miami.
Miami is pushing to complete a deal to keep Dwyane Wade now, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 11, 2014
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Assuming the Heat re-sign Wade to a reasonable contract for both parties, Miami will still have ample cap space to fill out the roster around Wade and Bosh. According to Sam Amick of USA Today, Riley reportedly has eyes for Luol Deng in efforts to replace James.
As for who takes James’ spot, the Heat have had talks with Luol Deng’s representatives Friday afternoon, a person with knowledge of Deng’s situation told USA TODAY Sports. The person requested anonymity because of the private nature of the talks.
Bosh, Wade, Deng, Josh McRoberts, Danny Granger, and Norris Cole would be a nice nucleus for the Heat to re-build around. That’s not a championship contender barring injuries to competitors, but this theoretical Miami squad would be a surefire playoff team in the East.
Bosh’s decision to spurn the Rockets leaves them in a bind. Daryl Morey has less than 48 hours to match the Dallas Mavericks’ offer sheet to Chandler Parsons, and would obviously prefer to use the cap space he made available to sign Bosh on another player before doing so.
Houston unloaded Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin in hopes of acquiring a third star to play with James Harden and Dwight Howard. Unless the Rockets sign Deng, Trevor Ariza, Pau Gasol or a player of similar caliber, they’ll have made those trades in vain.
Immediately after James’ announcement, fortunes of the Heat and Rockets were going in opposite directions. As the former has rebounded in the aftermath of losing LeBron, the latter must do the same after missing out on Bosh.
Where will the Heat place in the East next season?
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