Arison, Heat have to take care of Wade
The man with the biggest decision in South Florida sports woke on his company’s Alaskan cruise liner Saturday and took a picture with the ship’s captain. He posted video on Instragram of an ice wall collapsing on Friday.
Micky Arison trusts only cameras he holds, which is why you rarely see interviews with him. That can be a good trait for an NBA owner, and Arison obviously has many such traits: competitive, loyal, smart enough to hire the best people and rich. Very rich.
But as Heat fans were abuzz this week about Dwyane Wade’s future and Pat Riley’s master plans, don’t be misguided by Arison remaining quiet in the background, physically and figuratively, on that Alaskan cruise. It’s his team. He decides in moments like this. And the decision comes to this: How much is he willing to sacrifice so Riley can keep thinking bigger than anyone in basketball and so Wade gets repaid for sacrificing more than anyone in his franchise?
Or are players the only ones asked to sacrifice?
And is the last player to sign like Wade going to be penalized more?
There’s a way out of this, as you’ll see, but this ugly bit of business between the Heat and Wade brings the sort that cast it in a rare and questionable light.
The buck doesn’t stop with Riley on this. If so, the buck never would stop. It’s not his money. Riley, for instance, would have spent more than $17 million two summers ago to keep Mike Miller and keep LeBron James happy.
Arison said no. Plain and simple. You can
understand Arison’s thinking. Miller wasn’t worth close to that figure, which was the cost of his contract plus luxury-tax dollars. Every owner, no matter how rich, wants a return on investment.
Arison also didn’t use a draft pick to upgrade the roster as a sweetener to ditch Joel Anthony’s contract in 2014. And he didn’t use the mid-level exception to get a decent role player before LeBron’s final season.
Don’t read this wrong. Arison wasn’t cheap by any stretch. His teams were over the salary cap and into the luxury tax three of the four years with LeBron. It’s just LeBron expected great spending to match his great talent.
This, in some form, is where the Wade negotiation starts, too. Do you remember how Udonis Haslem re-signed with the team in 2010? How Wade called LeBron and Chris Bosh and asked them to take $15 million less each on their deals?
Wade took $17 million less himself. Haslem took $20 million from the Heat instead of $34 million elsewhere. That was such a warm, happy story at the time for the Heat. Sacrifice. Family. Love.
Wade, again, opted out of his contract for the good of the team last summer to .give Miami flexibility. He took less. No one could have foreseen Hassan Whiteside and Goran Dragic coming to the Heat at that time and needing to be paid.
How to get out of this? Well, this is tricky without an NBA salary-cap degree. But give Wade the maximum allowed next year of $23.5 million followed by a decent two-year deal. Given other projected contracts, the Heat would have an obscene luxury tax of about $65 million.
So trade Josh McRoberts and his $6.5 million contract for a draft pick. Trade Mario Chalmers and his $4.3 million deal. Those would save significant chunks from the luxury tax.
Wade would get rewarded in a way he deserves. Arison would have a tax penalty, but not as much as it could be. And Riley can still dream big about building his next championship.
The Heat are South Florida’s best-run team. Arison put it all in motion by hiring Riley away from the New York Knicks all those years ago. That doesn’t mean there aren’t problems or that some decisions are tough.
It’s his team, his money, his decision. Wade has sacrificed money and ego for years. Does the owner do so now, too?