Dwyane Wade is used to teaming up for a Big Three. He's not used to being the one leaving to help form a Big Three, nor is he used to playing basketball on the West Coast.
Suddenly, that is a possibility, according to SI.com's Chris Mannix.
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Mannix tweeted Sunday that Wade, the oft-injured and now-disgruntled Miami Heat guard, and the Los Angeles Lakers have mutual interest in a Wade-Kobe Bryant-Jahlil Okafor partnership for 2016.
While many execs still see Wade/Heat as contract saber rattling, a Wade option will be the Lakers. Mutual interest, per league sources.— Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixSI) June 21, 2015
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Wade may be growing increasingly frustrated over what he feels is a lack of loyalty from the Heat for the years he took a pay cut for the franchise to be able to bring in LeBron James and Chris Bosh to advance to four consecutive NBA Finals and win two titles in 2012 and 2013.
CBS Sports suggested that interest may be posturing from Wade to grab the Heat's attention.
The Lakers have a lot of cap room available for what could be Bryant's final year in the league, and certainly, having the two veteran guards in the locker room would be significant in terms of mentorship for not only Okafor but also forward Julius Randle, the Lakers' top pick in 2014 who missed the season after breaking his leg in the season opener.
Injuries limited Wade to 62 games last season, and he played in only 54 regular-season games the previous year. That could spell disaster for the Lakers, who have gotten only 41 games out of Bryant the past two seasons combined.
The Lakers need not be reminded of the failed Steve Nash experiment. Nash broke his leg during the second game of the 2012-13 season and played just 65 games in two years before finally retiring just prior to the start of the 2014-15 season.
But if the Lakers can somehow pace Bryant and Wade through the course of the season, the two could provide enough of a spark to make the team relevant again after coming off back-to-back worst seasons in LA franchise history.
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