Dwyane Wade To Decide If He'll Sign Kobe-Type Contract Or Discounted Deal

[RealGM Wiretap]

Dwyane Wade gave a diplomatic answer when he was posed the question about whether his new contract in free agency will be a Kobe Bryant-type contract or a discounted deal.

“When I get into that position, it’s something I’ll think about,” Wade said. “You have to sit down at the time and see what is best for you and for your team.”

“D-Wade is getting that Kobe deal,” James said from the next locker.

Wade was glad to see the two-year, $48-plus million extension that Bryant signed with the Los Angeles Lakers last week.

“As a player, I loved it. Everyone who gets what they get deserve, it’s great,” Wade said of Bryant’s new deal. “There’s a reason the Lakers felt that Kobe should get that money. There’s no right or wrong.”

The Heat likely would like to work out with Wade a similar situation as when Shaquille O'Neal signed a flexible deal in 2005. Wade has stated he intends to re-sign with Miami in the offseason.

“I remember when Shaq did that,” Wade said. “Not everyone is going to do that.”

Via Brian Windhorst/ESPN

[supermario]

They'll regret it.

[Hero]

He'll get the Kobe deal if winning isn't important to him. Kobe all about the $$$

[griZZly64]

This article is hilarious. Wade won't have to decide. Nobody is offering him a Kobe type contract whether he wants it or not. When he does sign for less than expected it will not be a "discount" deal, it'll be what hes worth.

[griZZly64]

double post

[Umbooki]

I can see Wade getting a Duncan-esque contract. Wade accomplished many things during his time in Miami, but I think he's more focused on getting rings instead of fattening his wallet. LeBron and Bosh probably play a part role in his decision (surprise, surprise!).

[cdubbz]

Man...Wade is still a top caliber player, but he's been on the decline for some time now. Wade getting anything over $12-14 a year is over paying.

[#9]

He'll get the Kobe deal if winning isn't important to him. Kobe all about the $$$

Let me educate your feeble mind.

Lakers in October 2012, signed a tv deal worth 5 billion. That does not take in effect that Kobe, anywhere in the world, is the biggest name in basketball. I'm his biggest fan, but he is not the best player in the world anymore. His name already brings $$ whether it is through tickets, apparel etc. Lakers is the biggest and most recognized team in the NBA and one of the, if not the most, recognized sports team in the world (Yankees is debatable). He brought in 5 championships to that city. Hope you can comprehend all that. To put it more bluntly, THAT IS CHUMP change to the Lakers. They are able to sign another max contract and build around. Before Stern vetoed the deal, they had more than enough cap space to have Chris Paul and Dwight Howard to join Kobe. If that was in effect, a whole lot of ring chasers and wily vets would have joined as well for dirt cheap. Kobe is about championships, if it was about the money he wouldn't bust his ass off rehabbing his torn achilles which was suppose to be more months longer than this Friday. If it was about the money and fame, he would not have turned down Spike Lee's offer to star in "He Got Game" rather than Ray Allen, cause he wanted to dedicate his summer to pure basketball and training.

[crazymaso]

He'll get the Kobe deal if winning isn't important to him. Kobe all about the $$$

Let me educate your feeble mind.

Lakers in October 2012, signed a tv deal worth 5 billion. That does not take in effect that Kobe, anywhere in the world, is the biggest name in basketball. I'm his biggest fan, but he is not the best player in the world anymore. His name already brings $$ whether it is through tickets, apparel etc. Lakers is the biggest and most recognized team in the NBA and one of the, if not the most, recognized sports team in the world (Yankees is debatable). He brought in 5 championships to that city. Hope you can comprehend all that. To put it more bluntly, THAT IS CHUMP change to the Lakers. They are able to sign another max contract and build around. Before Stern vetoed the deal, they had more than enough cap space to have Chris Paul and Dwight Howard to join Kobe. If that was in effect, a whole lot of ring chasers and wily vets would have joined as well for dirt cheap. Kobe is about championships, if it was about the money he wouldn't bust his ass off rehabbing his torn achilles which was suppose to be more months longer than this Friday. If it was about the money and fame, he would not have turned down Spike Lee's offer to star in "He Got Game" rather than Ray Allen, cause he wanted to dedicate his summer to pure basketball and training.

The only thing that contradicts your post is the fact that with Kobe signing that deal, the Lakers have virtually no flexibility to create a serious contending team.

Kobe did say that's what the Lakers simply offered. Going by what Kobe said, the Lakers probably feel like they know how difficult it will be for them to make any GOOD moves next season..so it's sort of like "sign Kobe for a short last deal. Have a 2-3 year plan so when he retires / contract finishes we will be in a strong position to make moves".

The new CBA has definitely made it's impact.

[Chaos Engine]

If he's selfish like Kobe say bye bye to Lebron and Bosh.

[Fellow72]

Some of you guys are real slow. The whole point of this question even being asked is to bait wade into spilling what he knows on the plans for the big 3. Why on earth would wade take a kobe contract if lbj and bosh still want to come back? That makes no sense, especially because miami wouldn't be able to afford it and it would cause tension amongst players.

This is the scenario that happens IF, lbj decides to leave miami. Only then would this be possible. The owner won't have any problem giving him the contract if they win the ship this season and lbj decides to go elsewhere. Wade deserves every penny. Without him, miami wouldn't have gotten any championships within the last 10 years.

Say what you want about wade, but it doesn't change the fact that he is one of the most efficient guards in the history in the NBA. And he still is today even though he is putting up less numbers today. Put him on Charlotte and then we would see how much he has actually declined. And to be honest, it is far less then everyone thinks. He'd easily be putting up the same numbers as in previous years again.

[Kilroy]

Misleading title. Kobe did get a discounted deal... Just not as discounted as everyone expected.

[HoodluM-]

He'll get the Kobe deal if winning isn't important to him. Kobe all about the $$$

Let me educate your feeble mind.

Lakers in October 2012, signed a tv deal worth 5 billion. That does not take in effect that Kobe, anywhere in the world, is the biggest name in basketball. I'm his biggest fan, but he is not the best player in the world anymore. His name already brings $$ whether it is through tickets, apparel etc. Lakers is the biggest and most recognized team in the NBA and one of the, if not the most, recognized sports team in the world (Yankees is debatable). He brought in 5 championships to that city. Hope you can comprehend all that. To put it more bluntly, THAT IS CHUMP change to the Lakers. They are able to sign another max contract and build around. Before Stern vetoed the deal, they had more than enough cap space to have Chris Paul and Dwight Howard to join Kobe. If that was in effect, a whole lot of ring chasers and wily vets would have joined as well for dirt cheap. Kobe is about championships, if it was about the money he wouldn't bust his ass off rehabbing his torn achilles which was suppose to be more months longer than this Friday. If it was about the money and fame, he would not have turned down Spike Lee's offer to star in "He Got Game" rather than Ray Allen, cause he wanted to dedicate his summer to pure basketball and training.

Just as the TV deal does not affect Kobe, it also doesn't affect the fact that the NBA has a hard cap, no matter how much money your team pulls in. Sure $48 million is chump change to LA, but that's still $24 a year against the cap. Could you not argue that, if Kobe was in-fact more focused on winning championships than making money, he would have negotiated the Lakers DOWN to say, 2 years $30 million rather than $48? The Paul trade veto is irrelevant - if anything, it discounts your point, as Kobe would have surely had to take less to fit himself Howard and Paul under the cap. Since he wasn't in that position he didn't have to - but you can't say that money wouldn't have been better spent elsewhere.

I'm not one to fault a guy for leaving money on the table. I just hope your feeble mind is able to take all of this in.

[truthiness]

If he's selfish like Kobe say bye bye to Lebron and Bosh.

Probably true, but his history so far would indicate that he isn't selfish. Name me another instance where an in-his-prime superstar turned over HIS team to the new guy. I hope he doesn't contradict me.

I am sure it's been REALLY hard to turn over HIS team over to Lebron, and I hope Riley gives him as much money possible while still keeping enough room to keep the big 3 and add a few pieces. He needs to be compensated and shown the love.

[Woodsanity]

If he's selfish like Kobe say bye bye to Lebron and Bosh.

Probably true, but his history so far would indicate that he isn't selfish. Name me another instance where an in-his-prime superstar turned over HIS team to the new guy. I hope he doesn't contradict me.

I am sure it's been REALLY hard to turn over HIS team over to Lebron, and I hope Riley gives him as much money possible while still keeping enough room to keep the big 3 and add a few pieces. He needs to be compensated and shown the love.

Turned the team over? More like Lebron was the much better player from 2012 and onwards.

[Sam195]

He'll get the Kobe deal if winning isn't important to him. Kobe all about the $$$

Let me educate your feeble mind.

Lakers in October 2012, signed a tv deal worth 5 billion. That does not take in effect that Kobe, anywhere in the world, is the biggest name in basketball. I'm his biggest fan, but he is not the best player in the world anymore. His name already brings $$ whether it is through tickets, apparel etc. Lakers is the biggest and most recognized team in the NBA and one of the, if not the most, recognized sports team in the world (Yankees is debatable). He brought in 5 championships to that city. Hope you can comprehend all that. To put it more bluntly, THAT IS CHUMP change to the Lakers. They are able to sign another max contract and build around. Before Stern vetoed the deal, they had more than enough cap space to have Chris Paul and Dwight Howard to join Kobe. If that was in effect, a whole lot of ring chasers and wily vets would have joined as well for dirt cheap. Kobe is about championships, if it was about the money he wouldn't bust his ass off rehabbing his torn achilles which was suppose to be more months longer than this Friday. If it was about the money and fame, he would not have turned down Spike Lee's offer to star in "He Got Game" rather than Ray Allen, cause he wanted to dedicate his summer to pure basketball and training.

Your just a Kobe Groupee dude. Go get your facts straight Kobe alongside his teammate to be Carmelo anthony will go down as two of the most selfish players in nba history. Your right Kobe is worth all the money he's getting paid in retrospect but he could have deffered that financial compensation to the the end of his career in the form of an ownership stake in the lakers like magic johnson. The lakers sold Johnson an ownership stake in one of the legaue most valuable franchises for and undisclosed amount (Hint it was probably way below market value to compensate Johnson for the money he left on the table for his various contracts). You can tell Kobe has an ego problem by the way his contract is structured to make him be the highest paid player in the league the next two years. If the second highest paid player was making 32 million, Kobe would have asked for 33. Kobe 's contract was also structured in a way so he could eclipse both Shaq and kevin Garnett in Career Earnings. After Kobe's deal is done he will be the wealthiest player in terms of total career earned salary excess of 330 million. Tim Duncan despite playing in a small market with limited resources did the opposite and took a 50% paycut so the team could retain key role players like tiago splitter and danny green without going deep into the luxury tax. Duncan's concessions paid off big time and his team was mere seconds and a ray allen 3 away from securing his 5th title. Kobe on the other hand saw his team struggle to barely make the playoffs and lose D12 for nothing in the offseason. I find it hilarious how the lakers when they had dwight were talking about saving cap room to get a third star. Now that D12 is gone, the lakers overpay Kobe and will try to entice melo to come to LA. The last time I checked Dwight was a better and younger player than melo. Dwight has also produced way more wins in the playoffs than Melo and is arguably the league's premier defender. Kobe basically used the leverage of Dwight leaving to pad his own pockets with wads of cash from the Buss family.

[Xerxes_Tetra]

First, Kobe was Shaq's sidekick for 3 of those 5 championships.

Second, the $3b TV deal TWC signed with the Lakers was for 20 years. Fairly sure TWC didn't think Kobe would be playing another 20 years. The point? That deal had little to do with Kobe.

Third, Kobe jersey sales do not benefit the Lakers only. The teams split jersey sales equally.

Fourth, regardless how much revenue a team has coming in they are limited by the salary cap. Kobe's agreement to the deal basically means he doesn't want to win a championship.

Fifth, Tim Duncan didn't sign a humongous deal when he re-upped. He signed a lesser deal because he still wanting to win championships.

[bostonHEATparty]

You guys can't take him seriously here. They have learned to toy with media after how they were treated, the 3 superfriends as so many like to call them enjoy this.

[NashtyNas]

He'll get the Kobe deal if winning isn't important to him. Kobe all about the $$$

All 3 of the Heat stars already made concessions last time around. If they win another ring, there's no reason to believe that all 3 don't get the super max they deserve. The only one that I could see not getting it is Bosh, who's role on the Heat unfortunately doesn't warrant it.

[Sam195]

He'll get the Kobe deal if winning isn't important to him. Kobe all about the $$$

All 3 of the Heat stars already made concessions last time around. If they win another ring, there's no reason to believe that all 3 don't get the super max they deserve. The only one that I could see not getting it is Bosh, who's role on the Heat unfortunately doesn't warrant it.

If Heat don't give Bosh the max, the rockets and mavs have already indicated they will pursue him and offer him the most money they can. Wade is the one that won't get the max deal because of his detriorating knees. Teams are taking a history of knee injuries seriously especially after the messes that were Andrew Bynum, Gilbert Arenas and Am,are stoudemire. Wade is better off opting into the final two years of his deal unless he knows he will get more guaranteed money in free agency. He's got like 45 million left on the final two years of his contract.