Dwyane Wade insists his days of helping his Miami Heat recruit players to South Beach are behind him.
Three summers after he helped the now two-time defending champs land LeBron James and Chris Bosh in free agency, not only is Wade denying reports of a recent clandestine meeting between him, team exec Pat Riley and free agent forward Lamar Odom but insisting he’s completely taken himself out of such equations.
"I left that all to them," Wade told The Florida Sun-Sentinel about the team’s luxury-tax induced limitations. "I got away, understanding that we have little that we can do. And Pat Riley is the best at what he does, so he's fine. We all understand the nature of the beast, what we're dealing with."
Miami's lack of flexibility due to tax penalties resulted in the team using their amnesty provision on key playoff contributor Mike Miller. Even the futures of the Big 3 of Wade, James and Bosh are somewhat up in the air given each can opt to hit the open market after the 2014 season.
Still, this summer the Heat and Riley were able to snare former No. 1 draft pick Greg Oden in free agency and convince forward Chris “Birdman” Andersen to take less money to stay in South Beach.
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