A modified version of the ballyhooed free-agent summit that was initially suggested and then downplayed by Dwyane Wade has indeed taken place, ESPN.com has learned.

Sources close to the situation said Monday night that three of the biggest names in basketball -- Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James -- met over the weekend in Miami to seriously discuss their futures, with a focus on the increasingly plausible possibility of those three teaming up with Wade's Heat.

Yet sources with knowledge of the meeting stressed to ESPN.com that James, while clearly intrigued by the possibility of forming a star-studded Miami trio with Wade and Bosh, has not yet committed to leaving his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers for South Beach.

One source did label Miami as the new frontrunner to land James in a package deal with Bosh and a re-signed Wade but also cautioned that James was "non-committal" with the start of free agency fast approaching.

Earlier Monday, Fox Sports Radio's Stephen A. Smith reported on his morning radio show and via his Twitter feed that James and Bosh have committed to joining Wade in Miami. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper, in a report on its website Monday afternoon, quoted a source close to Wade as saying that the 2006 NBA Finals MVP "believes his team is poised to pull off a free-agency coup" by signing James and Bosh and re-signing Wade.

Unless Miami trades away former No. 2 overall pick Michael Beasley to a team with salary-cap space, so it can avoid taking salary back, Heat president Pat Riley will not be able to offer the estimated 2010-11 maximum salary of $16.5 million to all three Team USA stars.

But sources told ESPN.com that James, Wade and Bosh all expressed confidence at the meeting that contractual complexities to make this ambitious triple signing work can be worked out, although it was not immediately clear if all three players would receive an equal amount or if one or two would receive the max. Another variable is whether Bosh would be willing to sign with the Heat outright or if he wants to hold out for a sign-and-trade.

also, if they ditch beasley for nothing they'll have close to enough money for three maxes. but no one wants beasley. even for nothing.

eViL wrote:yeah, and now there's a report saying wade wasn't even in miami during the time this alleged meeting took place. david stern and the nba media is milking the hell out of this grown man soap opera. this is pure gossip garbage straight outta star magazine.

the media is not even trying to be accurate. it's clearly a rotation of favorite teams. changes every day. true winners are the newspapers and media outlets. anyone letting this whip them into a frenzy should pick up days of our lives, it's prob right down your alley.

While I agree the mainstream media is loving this Stern has to be hating it. After the referee scandal, you now have top players colluding (after Bron's "..we want to meet to discuss the direction of the league..." quote let's call it what it is) Stern can not be happy with how this is playing out.

eViL wrote:

joec32033 wrote:

eViL wrote:yeah, and now there's a report saying wade wasn't even in miami during the time this alleged meeting took place. david stern and the nba media is milking the hell out of this grown man soap opera. this is pure gossip garbage straight outta star magazine.

the media is not even trying to be accurate. it's clearly a rotation of favorite teams. changes every day. true winners are the newspapers and media outlets. anyone letting this whip them into a frenzy should pick up days of our lives, it's prob right down your alley.

While I agree the mainstream media is loving this Stern has to be hating it. After the referee scandal, you now have top players colluding (after Bron's "..we want to meet to discuss the direction of the league..." quote let's call it what it is) Stern can not be happy with how this is playing out.

see, i think stern is loving it because it's keeping the NBA news on the front page and it's generating a ton of interest on the heels of a highly rated NBA finals. i think if he had a real problem with how this is going down that he has the power to shut it all up. he seems very laxed about player tampering (perhaps because there truly is no way to police it).

It's a total mind-****.

BasketballJones wrote:

eViL wrote:

joec32033 wrote:

eViL wrote:yeah, and now there's a report saying wade wasn't even in miami during the time this alleged meeting took place. david stern and the nba media is milking the hell out of this grown man soap opera. this is pure gossip garbage straight outta star magazine.

the media is not even trying to be accurate. it's clearly a rotation of favorite teams. changes every day. true winners are the newspapers and media outlets. anyone letting this whip them into a frenzy should pick up days of our lives, it's prob right down your alley.

While I agree the mainstream media is loving this Stern has to be hating it. After the referee scandal, you now have top players colluding (after Bron's "..we want to meet to discuss the direction of the league..." quote let's call it what it is) Stern can not be happy with how this is playing out.

see, i think stern is loving it because it's keeping the NBA news on the front page and it's generating a ton of interest on the heels of a highly rated NBA finals. i think if he had a real problem with how this is going down that he has the power to shut it all up. he seems very laxed about player tampering (perhaps because there truly is no way to police it).

It's a total mind-****.

it truly is my friend. it's a mind-gangbang. everybody is just takin turns ****ing with fans' heads.

djsunyc wrote:

A modified version of the ballyhooed free-agent summit that was initially suggested and then downplayed by Dwyane Wade has indeed taken place, ESPN.com has learned.

Sources close to the situation said Monday night that three of the biggest names in basketball -- Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James -- met over the weekend in Miami to seriously discuss their futures, with a focus on the increasingly plausible possibility of those three teaming up with Wade's Heat.

Yet sources with knowledge of the meeting stressed to ESPN.com that James, while clearly intrigued by the possibility of forming a star-studded Miami trio with Wade and Bosh, has not yet committed to leaving his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers for South Beach.

One source did label Miami as the new frontrunner to land James in a package deal with Bosh and a re-signed Wade but also cautioned that James was "non-committal" with the start of free agency fast approaching.

Earlier Monday, Fox Sports Radio's Stephen A. Smith reported on his morning radio show and via his Twitter feed that James and Bosh have committed to joining Wade in Miami. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper, in a report on its website Monday afternoon, quoted a source close to Wade as saying that the 2006 NBA Finals MVP "believes his team is poised to pull off a free-agency coup" by signing James and Bosh and re-signing Wade.

Unless Miami trades away former No. 2 overall pick Michael Beasley to a team with salary-cap space, so it can avoid taking salary back, Heat president Pat Riley will not be able to offer the estimated 2010-11 maximum salary of $16.5 million to all three Team USA stars.

But sources told ESPN.com that James, Wade and Bosh all expressed confidence at the meeting that contractual complexities to make this ambitious triple signing work can be worked out, although it was not immediately clear if all three players would receive an equal amount or if one or two would receive the max. Another variable is whether Bosh would be willing to sign with the Heat outright or if he wants to hold out for a sign-and-trade.

I hate ESPN reporting. so the weird ****ing thing about this....

Wade was in Chicago this past weekend: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sedano-says/2010/06/wade-lbj-bosh-summit-didnt-happen-in-miami.html

And Brian Windhorst (Cavs main beat guy) reports that LeBron was in NY for the weekend.

stupid media.

nyk4ever wrote:the players union would never let this happen...

This is an interesting story line to follow...

James Jones is the Secretary and Treasurer of the NBAPA.
http://www.nbpa.org/leaders-pack

He would also have to negotiate a buyout to allow the Heat to offer near-max money.

I have a feeling he is stalling on a buyout for as long as he can to provide uncertainty for Wade, James, and Bosh on how much money they have around to "just split it up". Since he will likely be bought out, he doesn't have to worry too much about offending his current boss by dragging his feet till the end just to dick the Heat over. However the end is likely near for his foot dragging because of the June 30 deadline on his contract being partially guaranteed. While I'm relatively confident a man in his position will be driving the hardest bargain possible, I wouldn't be surprised if he waited until the proverbial 11:59.

Interestingly, Chris Paul is also a VP of the NBAPA, so I'm guessing he would be making some phone calls to James, Wade and Bosh about not dicking the union over. I'm guessing Derek Fisher (President) would as well, but I doubt he has as much sway since they dont have to play together on Team USA.

"By Chris Sheridan
ESPN.com
Archive
The Miami Heat were still desperately seeking salary cap room Thursday as the hours ticked down to the NBA draft.

One day after essentially sacrificing Daequan Cook and a first-round draft pick (18th overall) in a trade with Oklahoma City that cleared $3.4 million in salary cap space, a league source told ESPN.com that the Heat were working Thursday on a buyout of James Jones' contract to further increase their financial flexibility for free agency this summer.

Jones has $15.5 remaining on his contract through 2012-13, but those final three seasons are only partially guaranteed if James is waived by June 30.

Waiving Jones would knock another $2.8 million off the Heat's salary cap for the 2010-11 season, giving them roughly $27 million to spend in free agency after July 1.

That amount would be enough to keep Wade, sign an additional maximum salary free agent -- and Heat president Pat Riley is prepared to make a strong push to sign LeBron James -- while still leaving an additional $10-11 million to spend on one or more additional free agents.
Miami also has been working diligently in an effort to trade Michael Beasley, who is under contract for $4.96 million next season. But the Heat were having difficulty finding a taker for the second overall pick from the 2008 draft.

The Heat were also awaiting word from center Joel Anthony, who faced a Thursday night deadline to decide whether to exercise a player option for 2010-11 that would pay him (and reduce Miami's cap space) $885,000.

Ideally, the Heat would want to trade Beasley for a player with only a partially guaranteed contract for the 2010-11 season, and there are two players with contracts of that variety who are especially appealing -- Keyon Dooling of the New Jersey Nets and Ryan Gomes of Minnesota.

Only $500,000 of Dooling's 2010-11 salary of $3.83 million is guaranteed if he is waived before July 1, but the source said New Jersey has shown no interest in acquiring Beasley.

With Gomes, only $1 million of his $4.235 million is guaranteed -- meaning a team that acquired him could increase its cap space by more than $3.2 million by waiving him by June 30.

So, if Riley was able to trade Beasley for Gomes, he would have a pool of roughly $47 million to spend on free agents, including Wade.

And, if he could convince three top caliber free agents -- Wade, James and Chris Bosh, for example -- to sign for starting salaries in the range of $15.5 million ($1 million less than they are eligible to receive), he could fulfill his goal of putting together the three primary building blocks of the "dynasty" he spoke about at the conclusion of the Heat's '09-10 season."
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5322877

martin wrote:I hate ESPN reporting. so the weird ****ing thing about this....

Wade was in Chicago this past weekend: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/sedano-says/2010/06/wade-lbj-bosh-summit-didnt-happen-in-miami.html

And Brian Windhorst (Cavs main beat guy) reports that LeBron was in NY for the weekend.

stupid media.

That's amazing. Great find, Martin.

I think it's clear the way ESPN is reporting this that they have an agenda - or they are allowing themselves to be the mouthpiece of someone who has an agenda (World Wide Wes or Maverick Carter, whoever).