Dwyane Wade to become a free agent? Contract talks stall in Miami

Dwyane Wade took an $11-million pay cut last season in order to help the Miami Heat cut deals with Chris Bosh and Luol Deng. Now, he apparently wants to recoup some of those losses.

Contract negotiations between the 33-year-old guard and the Heat have reportedly stalled out and Wade is weighing options outside of South Beach, according to the Associated Press.

Wade opted out of his $41-million contract last summer in order to give the team more flexibility to re-sign LeBron James, Bosh and Deng. Wade later re-signed on a two-year deal with a player option, which would allow him to test free agency.

James notably decided to return to Cleveland and the Heat used that freed up cash to give Bosh a max-level deal, $118 million over five years, and signed Deng.

“Several guys opted out of their contract last year,” Henry Thomas, Wade’s agent, told the Florida Sun-Sentinel. “Obviously Dwyane wasn’t in a position that Chris was in, in terms of having another team offer a maximum deal. But the reality of this is he’s played his entire career for Miami. He’s done wonderful things in terms of the five titles that they played for, winning three of them.

“He’s had a tremendous career, and we’re just trying to see whether or not there’s room to continue that.”

In recent seasons, Wade has been forced to sit out multiple games because of a series of nagging injuries.

Complicating contract talks with Wade is the team’s efforts to re-sign guard Goran Dragic. The Heat acquired Dragic via trade during the regular season, but he’s seeking a max-level deal as well.

Wade has said over the years that he’d like to play out his career with the Heat. That’ll require money from Miami, which in the end, might not be there.

Follow Matt Wilhalme on Twitter @mattwilhalme